The relationship between support, commitment and intent to leave team : A social exchange perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address and gain a more complete understanding of the effects on relationships between perceived team support (PTS), team commitment and intent to leave the team. Design/methodology/approach – Team commitment was examined as a mediator between perceived team support and intent to leave the team. To reach this objective, a survey on French white‐collar employee ( n =355) was conducted. The procedure of Baron and Kenny was selected for the mediation test. Findings – The study provides several interesting data. First, data reveal two dimensions for PTS. The first one is labelled PTS toward work, the second one is labelled PTS toward well‐being. Second, while team commitment mediates the relationship between PTS toward work and intent to leave the team, team commitment does not mediate PTS toward well‐being and the intent to leave the team. Originality/value – The findings extend the understanding of how perceived team support and team commitment are related to intent to leave the team. It was found that team commitment plays a mediating role between perceived team support and intent to leave the team. Because to date, no research has examined the mediating role of team commitment on the relationship between PTS and intent to leave the team, the study provides interesting findings.