Perceived Organizational Support and Affective Commitment: The Contributions of Gratitude and Instrumentality

Affective organizational commitment (AC) plays an important role in determining employees’ dedication to employer goals and reduced turnover. Perceived organizational support (POS), referring to employees’ perception regarding the degree to which the organization cares about their well-being and values their contributions, has been found to be the strongest predictor of affective commitment ( Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, & Sowa, 1986; Meyer & Allen, 1991). I conducted a study with 302 employees from a social welfare organization to investigate the relationship between POS and affective commitment from the social-exchange perspective. I found that gratitude and instrumentality mediated the relationship between POS and affective commitment, but felt obligation did not. Moreover, the relationship between POS and gratitude was stronger for employees focused more on past (i.e., past focus), and the relationship between POS and instrumentality was enhanced for employees who allocated more attention to future (i.e., future focus). These findings provide new insights into the POS-affective commitment relationship.