Unpacking Employee Responses to Organizational Exchange Mechanisms: The Role of Social and Economic Exchange Perceptions†

Abstract

Organizations form different degrees of social and economic exchange relationships with their employees. In this study, we unpack employee responses to organizational-level mechanisms of executive leadership style, organizational culture, and employment approaches by examining the mediating role of employees' perceptions of social and economic exchange relationships. The results of hierarchical linear modeling analyses show that social exchanges partially mediate the influence of the CEO's transformational leadership, an integrative organizational culture, and the mutual investment employment approach on affective commitment and task performance but not on organizational citizenship behavior. Economic exchanges partially mediate the influence of a hierarchical culture on all three employee outcomes and mediate the influence of the quasi-spot contract employment approach on commitment and organizational citizenship behavior but not on task performance. These results suggest the need for further understanding of the role of social and economic exchanges in organizational research.