A Study into the effect of Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS) on the socialisation outcomes of employees

Abstract summary A study was conducted to analyse the effects of a change in newcomers Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS) and socialisation outcomes such as role clarity, work mastery, motivation and job satisfaction. A survey was handed to 60 participants across 4 organisations testing this theory. The results showed a clear correlation between a decline in perceived supervisor support and a decline in motivation and job satisfaction, whilst the level of work mastery increased and role clarity remained consistent. These studies show that supervisor support is essential to ensuring job satisfaction and motivation.

Introduction Everyday around the world someone starts a new job. Starting a new job can be a thrilling experience but could also be one fraught with anxiety and stress. However, when a newcomer to an organisation experiences an environment quite different from the expected, dissatisfaction can occur (Wanous, 1976). There have been several pieces of literature and research that have tried to analyse the change in attitude and behaviour amongst individuals entering an organisation for the first time and then 12 months later. Many of these articles have stated the change relates to the Perceived Organisational Support (POS), (e.g. Eisenberger et al, 1997; Allen et al, 2003), while others state it relates to the Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS), (e.g. Ng, 2008; Pepe 2010). Some have stated it relates to both (e.g. Kotte et al, 1988; Yoon et al, 1999). This paper will aim to replicate the theory behind one of these published articles, written by Markku Jokisaari and JariErik Nurmi titled Change in newcomers supervisor support and socialization outcomes after organizational entry 2009. Jokisaari and Nurmi state that an employee s PSS seemed to decline once they had been in the company for more than 6 months and this contributed to a change in socialization outcomes . The four hypotheses this paper will aim to test are: 1. Newcomers PSS declines during the first 6 to 12 months after organisational entry and continues to decline after 24 months. 2. The greater the decrease in PSS, the greater the decrease in role clarity. 3. The greater the decrease in PSS, the greater the decrease in work mastery. 4. The great the decrease in PSS, the greater the decrease in job satisfaction and motivation.

Method A group of five University of Western Sydney students aimed to replicate Jokisaari and Nurmi s methods to try and ascertain whether the above mentioned hypotheses can be repeated and to see whether it can be expanded upon. The study was completed over a two week period as opposed to a two year period in Jokisaari and Nurmi s research paper. The study involved sixty participants from four varying organisations at a set point in time. The occupations of the participants varied. Twenty of the participants were clerical workers employed by a not for profit organisation. Ten of the participants were employed by a University in Sydney. Eleven of the participants were employed as bank employees by three of the top five banks in Australia and the final 19 were employed as accountants in Australia s biggest accounting firm.

The participants were split into subgroups, based on length of stay at the organisation and age. Subgroup one consisted of people who had been in the organisation: 1. Less than 6 months 19 participants 2. Between 6 months and 12 months 14 participants 3. More than 24 months 27 participants

Employees who had been in the organisation between 13 and 24 months were not asked to participate. This was to allow the testing of PSS over a greater period of time and to visualise what effect it had on longer serving employees.

A survey (Appendix A) was given to each of the 60 participants and they were asked to fill it in and hand it back as soon as they were done. The participants from the not for profit organisation were asked to fill in the survey online, whilst the rest of the participants were given a printed copy of the survey.

The survey involved 6 questions using a 5 point Likert scale, with 5 being strongly agree and 1 being strongly disagree . The first question asked about supervisor support and whether upon entering the organisation the support and orientation had met expectations. The second question asked about role clarity and whether the supervisor gave regular feedback about responsibilities and expectations.

The third questions asked about the role the supervisor played in providing clear guidelines in relation to the skills and knowledge needed to do the job. The fourth question asked about motivation and whether the participant was still motivated in their current role. The fifth questions asked about job satisfaction and whether the participant was still satisfied in their current role. The final question asked about socialisation and whether the supervisor continues to work to ensure a nurturing and inclusive team environment.

Results The results were mixed but mostly as expected. Table 1 below shows the decline in PSS as the length of employment increased.
Table 1 Change in Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS) over a term of employment

Length of period in organisation Less than 6 months 6 months 12 months Greater than 24 months Mean 4.47 3.92 2.74 Standard Deviation 0.61 0.83 1.06

The results also show a greater standard deviation in perceived support the longer a person has been in the company. The mean for people in an organisation for less than 6 months was 4.47 out of 5. The participants that had been in the organisation for 6 to 12 months recorded a decline in PSS. Their PSS level dropped to 3.92 out of 5. The biggest decline however, was in the Greater than 24 months category. The average in this category was only 2.74 whilst the standard deviation was 1.06; almost double that of the Less than 6 months category. This shows that at 24 months in a company an employee s PSS is at almost half of what they would be expecting or needing. Jokisaari and Nurmi, (2009) argue that the steeper the decline in perceived supervisor support, the greater the rate of decrease in role clarity and job satisfaction . This theory was also tested and the results appear in table 2 below:

Table 2 Analysis of socialisation outcomes after decline in perceived support level

Length of period in organisation Less than 6 months 6 to 12 months > 24 months Role clarity Mean 4.00 4.21 4.04 Std Dev. 0.94 0.58 1.06 Work mastery Mean 3.58 4.36 4.48 Std Dev. 1.26 0.63 0.64 Motivation Mean 4.53 4.21 3.19 Std Dev. 0.51 0.70 1.14 Job satisfaction Mean 4.16 3.86 3.22 Std Dev. 0.96 0.77 1.01

With the results from the 60 participants analysed, role clarity was almost the same across all three categories, however work mastery increased as PSS decreased. In the Less than 6 months category work mastery was sitting at a mean of 3.58. This increased to 4.36 in the 6 to 12 months category and increased further to 4.48 in the greater than 24 months category. It appears that the longer a person has been in an organisation the higher their perception of work mastery irrespective of supervisor support. The two areas that were in line with expectations were motivation and job satisfaction. Both these areas show a substantial decrease as the length of employment increases. Motivation in the first six months is sitting at 4.53 out of 5. This drops slightly in the second 6 months, however the substantial drop is noticeable in the Greater than 24 months category.

Job Satisfaction rated a 4.16 out of 5 in the first category; slightly lower than the motivation test. However the Greater than 24 months survey participants recorded a score of 3.22 almost identical with the motivation test. This shows that after 24 months in an organisation, motivation and job satisfaction levels are almost identical.

Discussion The results fully support this paper s and Jokisaari & Nurmi s first hypothesis concerning newcomers PSS. The theory of relationship development suggests that, after organisational entry a honeymoon period protects the initial relationship between a newcomer and organizational insiders, such as supervisors (Fichman & Levinthal, 1991 cited in Jokisaari, 2009) has also been evidenced in the people surveyed. Whilst there has been no definitive answer as to how long the honeymoon period lasts, research on job turnover suggests that the honeymoon period lasts about three to six months (Bruderl, 2000; Farber 1994 cited in Jokisaari and Nurmi 2009). This argument holds some weight as the results from this study clearly show a decline in PSS after that initial honeymoon period .

Only one of the participants in the less than 6 months category rated the PSS as 3. This participant also rated job satisfaction as 1. It appears that the job was not what they were expecting supporting Wanous (1976) theory. The other 18 participants in this category rated the PSS as either 4 or 5. However in the 6 to 12 months category 5 out of 14 participants rated PSS as average, i.e. 3. In the greater than 24 months category out of the 27 participants, 15 rated PSS as 2 or less. These results clearly show that the longer a person has been in an organisation the greater their perception of decreased supervisor support.

Interestingly though these results show that even though PSS declines, an employee will still be able to do their job and know how to do their job although they are a lot less motivated to do it. This could probably be due to the fact that a lot of people use their jobs as a security blanket and don t like to change jobs too often due to financial reasons no matter how unhappy they are in their current job. Most of them are aware that there is a lot of competition and if their work ethics drop off, they are in danger of losing their jobs.

The second hypothesis was not supported. Even when there was a drop in PSS, role clarity did not drop but remained steady. This contradicts Jokisaari and Nurmi s findings that state role clarity levels drop when supervisor support drops. It can be assumed that unless a person s role changes, supervisor support is not seen as a necessity for that employee to know what their job involves. Most jobs nowadays have detailed job descriptions which are designed to ensure a newcomer is

aware of their responsibilities so they do not require supervisor support to make them aware of their duties.

The third hypothesis was not supported. This is also the case with the Jokisaari and Nurmi findings. It appears experience is a factor here, and the longer the employee has been in an organisation the better they get at their job. This is further evidenced in the results that show work mastery levels are at their lowest when a person first starts in an organisation and gradually increase over time regardless of support. The assumption here is that people will still try and do their job regardless of supervisor support to ensure they are not alienated or made an example of by being reprimanded for not fulfilling their commitment. Once again this could be due to people being concerned about finding a new job during an economic crisis.

The fourth hypothesis was supported. There was a clear correlation between the decline in PSS and the decline in motivation and job satisfaction. The participants surveyed indicated that with a decline in PSS they felt that their job wasn t as important as they first thought when they joined the organisation.

Overall the results match most research done in this area (e.g.; Jokisaari & Nurmi 2009; Pazy & Ganzach, 2006; Yoon & Thye, 2000). The job satisfaction hypothesis is further supported in (Boswell et al, 2009) which states job satisfaction reached a peak following organizational entry and decreased thereafter . The only area that contradicts this research is role clarity. The results in this study do not reinforce or actively deny research done regarding role clarity. Further specific testing is needed to ascertain the direct role PSS plays in role clarity.

Conclusion Perceived Supervisor Support is defined as the beliefs that employees adopt concerning the degree to which their supervisor values their contribution and cares about their well being (Kotte & Sharafinski, 1988 cited in Pazy & Ganzach 2006). Every newcomer to an organisation expects some form of supervisor support when they start. This study, in line with several other studies in the area, show there is a significant decline in PSS over time. This has a negative effect on staff morale, motivation and job satisfaction.

Due to limited time and resources, the study in this paper could not test whether the decline in job satisfaction and motivation was salary related. Further testing should be done in this area to see whether PSS is the sole contributor to a drop in job satisfaction and motivation or whether the common thoughts I don t get paid enough to do this are hindering the supervisor / subordinate relationship, whereby staff look at their supervisors as an obstacle to their pay rise.

It can be concluded that the relationship between a supervisor and an employee exerts more powerful effects on employee s behaviour than distal elements such as organization , (Lewin, 1943), and with a decrease in PSS, the less motivated and satisfied an employee which could be costly and counter-productive for an organisation.

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