From social context and resilience to performance through job satisfaction: A multilevel study over time

• Published in: Human relations (New York) 2016-11, Vol.69 (11), p.2047-2067
• Main Authors: Meneghel, Isabella, Borgogni, Laura, Miraglia, Mariella, Salanova, Marisa, Martínez, Isabel M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Human resource management; Job performance; Job satisfaction; Perceptions
• ISSN: 0018-7267; 1741-282X
• DOI: 10.1177/0018726716631808

Giving the crucial role of organizational context in shaping individual attitudes and behaviors at work, in this research we studied the effects of collective work-unit perceptions of social context on individual work resilience and two key individual outcomes: job satisfaction and job performance as rated by the supervisor. We theorized that collective perceptions of social context act as antecedents of individual variables, and that individual job satisfaction mediates the relationship between collective perceptions of social context and job performance, and between work resilience and job performance over time. A sample of 305 white-collar employees, clustered in 67 work-units, participated in the study. Hierarchical linear modeling highlighted that collective perceptions of social context are significant related to individual work resilience. Moreover, results showed that individual job satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between collective perceptions of social context and individual job performance and the relationship between individual work resilience and individual job performance. At a practical level, results suggest that interventions on collective perceptions of social context may increase work resilience, job satisfaction and job performance over time at the individual level.