Crediting the Organization for Coworkers' Supportive Behavior: The Roles of Perceived Organizational Support and Coworkers' Organizational Embodiment

Organizational support theory suggests that favorable treatment from members of the organization contributes to employees’ perceived organizational support (POS). However, research on POS has mainly considered the roles managers and supervisors play in its formation, paying less regard to coworkers. The current study tested a model that gives greater consideration to coworkers as contributors to development of POS. A new construct termed coworkers’ organizational embodiment (COE) was proposed to describe the extent to which employees believed their coworkers represented the organization and shared its identity. Consistent with organizational support theory and research on organizational embodiment, results indicated that supportive treatment from coworkers influenced employee POS, mostly when COE was high. These effects carried over employees’ affective organizational commitment but not their extra-role performance. It was also found that coworkers’ informal organizational status and expressed favorable attitudes regarding the organization were positively related to COE.