Who Feels Supported at Work? Organizational Support across Social and Job Positions in Research Institutions

Abstract

This study examined differences in perceived organizational support among researchers working in agricultural research institutions in Punjab, Pakistan. Drawing on organizational support theory, the study conceptualized organizational support as employees' perceptions that their organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being. Data were collected from 329 researchers using a stratified sampling approach. Organizational support was assessed using an eight-item scale demonstrating satisfactory psychometric properties, including strong internal consistency, acceptable item loadings, and VIF values indicating no problematic collinearity. Descriptive statistics were calculated across marital-status and job-designation groups. Because the groups differed in size and variance assumptions could not be taken for granted, Welch's ANOVA was employed, followed by Games–Howell post hoc comparisons. Organizational support differed significantly across marital-status groups, F (2, 78.45) = 124.46, p < .001. Single researchers reported the highest support, followed by married and divorced researchers. Organizational support also differed significantly by job designation, F (2, 48.77) = 207.99, p < .001. Scientific officers reported significantly higher support than Senior Scientists and Principal Scientists, whereas principal and senior scientists did not differ significantly. The findings demonstrate that perceptions of organizational support vary across employees' social and occupational positions and highlight the importance of context-sensitive organizational practices in agricultural research institutions.