(PS7-C72) The Impact of Cognitive Evaluation of Relationships with Supervisors on Mental Health of New Employees Six Months After Employment

Background:  In occupational stress research, supervisor’s social support (hereafter, support) has been considered an important factor in reducing subordinates' mental and physical stress reactions and feelings of job dissatisfaction. However, it has been pointed out that when a supervisor's behavior is perceived by subordinates as a threat, it may have an adverse effect on their mental and physical health. Therefore, the relationship between subordinates' perceptions of their supervisors' behavior and their mental stress reactions may require consideration of the subordinates' evaluation of their relationship with their supervisors. One of the concepts to describe the relationship with superiors is the leader-member exchange (LMX). In this study, we conducted a longitudinal study to examine the effects of new employees' cognitive evaluation of their relationship with their supervisor (LMX) on changes in their social skills, motivation, organizational commitment, and stress reactions in their first six months of employment.

Method:  A self-reported questionnaires were used to survey employees of 14 companies. A total of 112 new employees (91 male, 21 female; mean age 23.13 years, SD=1.58) were included in the analysis. The survey was conducted twice: T1 was conducted immediately after the new employees joined the company from April to June in 2008. T2 was conducted from October to November in 2008.

Survey Materials: (1) Cognitive evaluation of relationship with supervisor: 12 items from the original Japanese version of LMX-MDM, (2) 16 items from the organizational commitment scale, (3) 7 items from the intrinsic motivation at work scale, (4) 18 items from the social skills scale (Kiss-18 ), (5) 15 items on mental stress reaction and one item on job satisfaction from the NIOSH Brief Occupational Stress Questionnaire

 The LMX-MDM was measured only at T2 because of the large number of new employees without a supervisor at T1. A two-factor mixed design with group (high LMX group, low LMX group) and time (T1, T2) as factors was used in the analysis of variance. The stressor score of T2 was used as a covariate.

Results and Discussion: There was a significant or significant trend for group and time interaction in motivation (F(1, 26)=10.19, p< .01), social skills and organizational commitment (F(1, 26)=3.13, p< .10; F(1, 26)=3.17, p< .10). A simple main effect test revealed a main effect of group on motivation and social skills (F(1, 26)=8.36, p< .01; F(1, 26)=4.13, p< .10) and a significant trend for a main effect of time on organizational commitment (F(1, 26)=3.49, p< .10). The results of the Bonferroni's post test suggested that higher LMX may increase motivation and suppress the decrease in organizational commitment. These results suggest that interventions that enhance cognitive evaluations of the relationship with supervisors, increase motivation, and reduce organizational commitment may be effective in promoting their adjustment. Under the Covid-19 situation, this study suggested some effective interventions such as measuring LMX on regular basis, effective communication training for supervisors with low LMX ratings and a remote support system that enables online interviews on current work issues.