The Impact of Social Exchange on Referees’ Job Satisfaction: Mediating Effect of Organizational Trust

The purpose of the current study was to examine how perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange influence job satisfaction through organizational trust among sport referees. A total of 602 referees, most of whom were part-time referees, from 13 different sports in China participated in an online survey. The results of structural equation modeling revealed that leader-member exchange had a significant positive relationship with job satisfaction, while perceived organizational support did not. In addition, the results revealed that organizational trust fully mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support and job satisfaction, while it partially mediated the relationship between leader-member exchange and job satisfaction. These findings suggested that the level of trust that referees had in their organization played a critical role in the impact of perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange on job satisfaction. The findings of this study highlight the importance of positive relationships between referees and their supervisors to improve job satisfaction. Additionally, fostering a culture of trust could enhance the effectiveness of social exchange relationships (i.e., perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange). The study contributes to the existing literature on social exchange theory and job satisfaction, providing implications for how organizations can improve job satisfaction by focusing on social exchange relationships (i.e., perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange) and trust-building.