Yelena Karanib is a first  year PhD Student at Edinburgh Napier University, Business School. She is an HR professional with more than 8 years of experience, who was always passionate about the best HR practices to support employees and create best employment experience.

Area of interest: HR practices and strategy, diversity, organisational culture, employer-employee relationship.

Supervisory Team: Dr Laura Gerard, Dr Janice McMillan, Dr Cathy Olusanmi.

Research Overview

Social exchange theory can be described as a broad conceptual paradigm used to explain different phenomena across social sciences, such as social psychology, anthropology, and management, as it has broader implications in daily life exchange relationships within an organisation, family, friends, relatives, etc. (Ahmad et al., 2023). Historically, the social exchange theory has dominated theoretical and empirical research in the employee-organisation relationship literature, serving as a central framework to understand the interaction between organisational practices applied to employees and the expected employee contributions to the organisation (Carlos-Maria Alcover et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2019). However, ongoing changes, such as the dynamics of globalisation and competition, the expanding range of opportunities, freedom of choice, and the growing complexity of technical and social interactions, have significantly reshaped the nature of work itself. Based on these facts, Bordia et al. (2014) argue that the exchange process cannot be understood without considering other exchange transactions that impinge on them. Moreover, limited research is devoted to how other demands may limit the contributions in a social exchange relationship. Consequently, it creates a significant need to understand and assess the relationship between organisations and employees from different perspectives. 

From the point of management literature, the social exchange relationship is explained as an initiation by one party toward another party involved in the transactional relationship, a behavioural response resulting in the specific outcome of such a relationship (Cropanzano et al., 2017). However, there is a significant argument that due to an increase in the complexity of the employee-organisation relationships, there is a crucial need to expand the social exchange theory considering the complex and diverse environment of how organisations operate and how employees behave (Ahmad et al., 2023). Historically, the social exchange approach is based on rules and expectations built based on a unitarist framework that was fundamental to organisational behaviour and applied to organisational practices (Mehta & Mehta, 2017). Consequently, it generates significant differences from reality, especially for organisations with more complex and diverse environments that create a complex organisational phenomenon such as sub-cultures, which has yet to be appropriately addressed in academic literature (Ahmad et al., 2023). It is also essential to note that management literature argues that such a relationship significantly relies on organisational cultural expectations. This creates a cultural mandate based on norms and individual orientation on how individuals/groups should behave, and by following these norms, they become obligated to behave reciprocally (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005). However, there is an argument that although such a transaction between parties involved can be considered a human universal, it cannot be valued by all individuals/groups similarly (Chernyak-Hai & Rabenu, 2018). 

Considering the findings from a critical analysis of the literature, this research argues that there is a significant theoretical gap regarding the complexity of the social exchange relationship between organisations and employees, especially when it comes to aspects of organisational culture. The researcher argues that such a conclusion can be explained by the element that, traditionally, such a relationship was seen from a unitarist perspective, which ignores the complexity of the organisational culture phenomenon. It is supported by the fact that employees do not behave in a value-free vacuum, and there is evidence supporting the existence of individual differences that lead to the formation of collective behaviour and the development of a complex exchange relationship environment (Manetje & Martins, 2009; Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005).

Moreover, Morgan and Ogbonna (2008) argue that organisational culture must be seen as a unit that includes domain culture (proposed by management- top-down approach) and different subcultural groups that differentiate themselves from each other, interact daily and share the same problems and in-group understanding of ways of solving such problems. Considering such arguments, the research highlights that it influences the emerging pattern of values described as organisational culture.  

Considering the critical discussions above, the researcher is arguing that the ignorance of the complexity of the organisational culture phenomenon creates a significant theoretical gap, which does not show an actual mechanism that drives such a relationship due to limitations of the unitarist perspective, which cannot be considered adequate.

This research aim is to identify and analyse the impact of a complex organisational culture phenomenon from the pluralist point of view on the social exchange relationships between domain organisations culture and different organisational segments to analyse co-production on human resource management practices and its impact on organisational outcomes.

The research objectives of this study are to: 

• Critically analyse the social-exchange theory literature from the pluralistic point of view connecting with critical analysis of organisational culture and Human Resources management literature considering the latest cultural trends, complexity and diversity of large and mid-size organisations. 

• Develop and conduct interviews and surveys across large and mid-size organisations to critically explore the implication of social-exchange theory framework from the pluralistic point of view on the complex organisational culture phenomenon and its co-coproduction on organisational practices and strategy.   

• Undertake a critical analysis concerning the results of the survey and interviews in relation to the theoretical framework of the complex social-exchange relationship developed based on the literature review. 

• To conclude the essential findings and develop recommendations, including the range of suggested actions that the organisation can apply to develop HRM strategic practices that will build a solid exchange relationship within between diverse organisational environment, domain culture and overall organisational outcome.   

Methodology overview

Considering the study requirements and the nature of the phenomenon, the researcher will apply critical realism to meet the research aim and objectives. One of the crucial reasons for the decision to choose critical realism as a philosophical approach is the actual view of the researcher on the literature and the theoretical gap that became a central area of research. The researcher argues that the exchange relationship between subcultures and domain culture is a complex phenomenon and cannot be thoroughly studied from a unitarist perspective that is usually applied by the social exchange theory. 

After carefully considering the different methods proposed by the academic literature, the research will apply a mixed method to gather high-quality data to meet the research aim and objectives. Martins and Von der Ohe (2006) argue that although many researchers have applied a single method (quantitative or qualitative) to study the phenomenon of organisational culture, it is advisable to use both methods to achieve a more realistic outcome. The research will focus on secondary data based on the literature review and primary data collected using mixed methods to answer the proposed research questions and will apply a sequential approach to the data collection process.  

Conclusion

Overall, the main goal of this research is to fill the theoretical gap by exploring the complex mechanism of social exchange theory within the organisational culture concept, especially since the literature argues that organisational culture is considered a fundamental component of the primary mechanism that drives the social-exchange relationship. Consequently, the exchange relationship cannot be described fully from the unitarist perspective, as organisational culture is a complex phenomenon and must be seen as a unit that contains sub-cultures. 

Key references:  

Ahmad, R., Nawaz, M. R., Ishaq, M. I., Khan, M. M., & Ashraf, H. A. (2023). Social exchange theory: Systematic review and future directions. . Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1-13.  

Bordia, P., Restubog, S. L. D., Bordia, S., & Tang, R. L. (2014). Effects of Resource Availability on Social Exchange Relationships: The Case of Employee Psychological Contract Obligations. Journal of Management, 1-25.  

Carlos-Maria Alcover, Ramo´n Rico, William H. Turnley, & Bolino, M. C. (2016). Understanding the changing nature of psychological contracts in 21st century organizations: A multiple-foci exchange relationships approach and proposed framework. Organizational Psychology Review, 1-32.  

Chernyak-Hai, L., & Rabenu, E. (2018). The New Era Workplace Relationships: Is Social Exchange Theory Still Relevant? Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 11(3), 456–481. 

Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social Exchange Theory: An Interdisciplinary Review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874-900. 

Cropanzano, R., Anthony, E. L., Daniels, S. R., & Hall, A. V. (2017). Social Exchange Theory: A Critical Review with Theoretical Remedies. Academy of Management Annals, 11(1), 1-38.

Manetje, O., & Martins, N. (2009). The relationship between organisational culture and organisational commitment. Southern African Business Review, 13(1), 87-111. 

Morgan, P. I., & Ogbonna, E. (2008). Subcultural dynamics in transformation: A multi-perspective study of healthcare professionals. Human Relations, 61(1), 39-65.  

Malka Liaquat, & Mehmood, K. K. (2017). Organization Citizenship Behavior: Notion of Social Exchange Theory. Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies, 3(2), 209-216. file://napier-mail.napier.ac.uk/students/the%20business%20school/user%20data/40677612/My%20Profile/Downloads/137-Article%20Text-1107-3-10-20190915.pdf

Martins, N., & Von der Ohe, H. (2006). Detecting sub-cultures in an organisation. Southern African Business Review, 10(2), 130-149. https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/EJC92827 

Wang, T., Long, L., Zhang, Y., & He, W. (2019). A Social Exchange Perspective of Employee–Organization Relationships and Employee Unethical Pro‑organizational Behavior: The Moderating Role of Individual Moral Identity. Journal of Business Ethics(159), 473–489 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Taolin-Wang-3/publication/320782686_Effective_but_Irresponsible_The_Relationship_between_EORs_and_UPB/links/66cbe60c920e05672e504bb5/Effective-but-Irresponsible-The-Relationship-between-EORs-and-UPB.pdf