Bliese and Britt 2001), absence (Tamers et al. 2011) and burnout (Winnubst
1993) and to enhancing productive behaviours and organisational outcomes such
as work motivation (Winnubst 1993).
Social support has been defined as "overall levels of helpful social interaction
available on the job from co-workers and supervisors" (Karasek and Theorell
1990: 69) and by Bliese and Britt as a phenomenon that:
(^)
...is expected to help individuals cope with the negative effects of
stressors because positive social environments provide confirmation of
social identity, instrumental aid, and various forms of support
(emotional, informational and appraisal) to group members
(Bliese and Britt 2001: 426)
During this study, Social Support was identified as a construct of interest owing to
its inclusion in three hospitality leadership studies. In the first of these,
Borchgrevink and Boster (1994) hypothesised, and found in their sample of North
American foodservice employees, that levels of Co-Worker Social Support were
unrelated to levels of LMX (Leader-Member Exchange) relationship quality (a
findings which supported the hypothesis that supervisor support is unrelated to
co-worker support). Ross and Boles (1994) examined the effects of a range of
supportive work relationships (supervisor support. peer cohesion and work
involvement) on a number of individual-level work outcomes. Based on the
responses of a sample of foodservers in the south east of the United States they
found: (a) no correlation between peer cohesion (Social Support) and (i) job
performance or (ii) extrinsic motivation; (b) that peer cohesion did not predict
either role conflict or role ambiguity; and (c) peer cohesion did not predict job
satisfaction. The authors offer a number of explanations for the poor predictive
ability of Peer Cohesion highlighting (i) the low reliability of the construct (α =
0.57) in their survey, and (ii) low levels of peer networking in food servers
compared with other job contexts in which social support had previously been
measured. Examples of differing characteristics of jobs and employees included
fewer communal lunches and less time socialising after work owing to part-time
employment, staggered shifts and little free time owing to non-work
commitments such as caring for young families and/or education/study. The last
of the identified hospitality leadership studies to include the social support factor
is that of Susskind et al. (2000a) who measured co-worker support as a