Presented By: Interdisciplinary Committee on Organizational Studies - ICOS
What makes us feel supported? Unpacking work support perceptions
Clare L Barratt, Bowling Green State University

For more than fifty years, research has underscored the central role of social support in fostering employee well-being and organizational effectiveness. Yet, despite its prominence, relatively little is known about how employees actually form judgments of how supported they feel at work. This lack of clarity creates persistent challenges for scholars attempting to measure the construct and for practitioners striving to cultivate genuinely supportive workplaces. To address this gap, I will present findings from two studies designed to clarify the nature of social support and illuminate the processes through which employees develop perceptions of it.