(When) Does Perceived Organizational Support Climate Influence Individual Performance in Groups? The Moderating Roles of Climate Strength and Task Interdependence

Abstract

By integrating organizational support theory and social information processing theory, we adopt a psychosocial perspective on group-level perceived organizational support (POS) climate to provide insights into whether and when POS climate level is related to individual performance. Using data from 257 employees across 39 work groups, we demonstrate that POS climate level is positively associated with OCB-I and OCB-O after controlling for individual-level POS. Furthermore, POS climate strength acts as a facilitating moderator, such that the relationships of POS climate level with task performance, OCB-I, and OCB-O are more positive when POS climate strength is higher. Additionally, group task interdependence further moderates the two-way interaction between POS climate level and strength, such that the moderating effect of POS climate strength is amplified in groups with higher task interdependence and inhibited in groups with lower task interdependence. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the study along with its limitations and directions for future research.