Acta Psychologica Sinica

Abstract

Introduction
The last two decades have witnessed a surge in interest in organizational identification (OI), which is viewed by some researchers as the sense of psychological connection or bond between an individual and an organization. Although OI is important, it remains theoretically underdeveloped and has received limited attention in China. This paper presents an empirical test of organizational identification from a social exchange perspective in an attempt to understand the nature, development, and consequences of organizational identification.

Method
The sample consisted of 398 employees from 32 firms. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis.

Results
Results indicated that perceived organizational support (POS) had a significant impact on organizational identification and intention to remain. Further, organizational identification fully mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support and four organizational citizenship behaviors (altruism toward colleagues, conscientiousness, interpersonal harmony and protecting company resources). Leader-member exchange (LMX) had no significant direct impact on organizational identification and intention to remain, but had an important impact on altruism toward colleagues, conscientiousness, interpersonal harmony and protecting company resources.

Conclusions
Perceived organizational support plays an important role in determining employees’ organizational identification, work-related attitudes and behaviors. However, leader-member exchange has no significant direct impact on organizational identification and intention to remain, but it has an important influence on altruism toward colleagues, conscientiousness, interpersonal harmony, and protecting company resources. These effects and directions for future research are discussed.

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