Comparing Sources of Instrumental and Relational Support: Motivating Workers for the Job and Beyond

Workplace productivity fundamentally involves group processes where vertical authorities interact with lateral peer relationships, involving various types of resources. Leveraging theoretical arguments from self-determination, social exchange, and justice perspectives, we argue that different types of support matter for cultivating workers’ job motivation and their engagement in extra-role behaviors in the workplace. We investigate how workers’ perceptions of managers and coworkers, regarding their instrumental support (aid for job tasks) and relational support (fairness in decision-making and treatment) contribute to increased motivation, which in turn leads to more reciprocal behaviors like making suggestions, helping coworkers, and volunteering for extra work. Our distinctive approach, involving both types of support from both sources, extends work that concentrates on just one type or source. We draw on survey data from 2062 workers across various occupations. Path analytic results largely confirm the hypothesized positive effects of support from authorities and coworkers on job motivation and extra-role behaviors, and show the extent to which job motivation mediates the effects of the types and sources of support. Nuanced results regard which type and source of support influence which type of extra-role behavior. We conclude by noting that our dual-process approach to workplace group processes may be useful for fostering overall productivity.