Social Support Scale

Abstract

The Social Support scale, initially developed by Caplan, Cobb, French, Van Harrison, and Pinneau (1975), is a foundational instrument in organizational psychology designed to quantify an employee’s perceived availability of Social Support from key relational sources. The measure utilizes distinct subscales to assess support derived from supervisors, co-workers, and personal networks (spouse, family, and friends).

The scale operationalizes support into two functional categories: Instrumental Support, which involves practical assistance and task facilitation (e.g., making work easier or being relied upon during crises), and Emotional Support, which encompasses psychological comfort (e.g., willingness to listen to personal problems and ease of communication). Due to its robust psychometric properties and comprehensive coverage of both work and non-work domains, this measure has remained one of the most established scales for assessing social support in job-related research (Lim, 1996).

Keywords

Social Support, Occupational Health, Supervisor Support, Co-worker Support, Instrumental Support, Emotional Support, Job Stress, Organizational Psychology, Perceived Support, Job Satisfaction.

Authors

R. D. Caplan, S. Cobb, J. R. P. French, R. Van Harrison, S. R. Pinneau.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Social Support scale is to systematically evaluate the breadth and depth of perceived social support available to an individual, particularly within the context of occupational demands and stress. By separating support into distinct sources—organizational (supervisor, co-workers) and personal (family, friends)—the scale allows researchers to analyze the unique contributions of these networks to employee well-being and performance.

The measure specifically aims to quantify the behavioral indicators of support, such as the willingness of others to expend effort to assist the employee (instrumental function) and their capacity to provide a receptive, non-judgmental ear for personal difficulties (emotional function). This differentiation is crucial for developing targeted interventions aimed at enhancing organizational support structures.

Construct

The scale measures the multi-dimensional psychological construct of perceived Social Support, defined as the belief that one is cared for, esteemed, and part of a network of mutual obligations. The construct is conceptualized along two primary dimensions: source and function.

• Source Dimension: This includes support derived from the immediate supervisor, support from co-workers, and support from one’s personal network (spouse/family/friends).
• Functional Dimension: This captures Instrumental Support (practical aid, reliability, making tasks easier) and Emotional Support (empathy, listening, ease of communication). The combination of these dimensions provides a nuanced understanding of how support operates as a stress buffer and predictor of occupational health outcomes.

Validity

The Social Support scale demonstrates strong evidence of criterion and construct validity across organizational settings. Studies have consistently shown positive relationships between perceived support and desirable work outcomes. Specifically, Repeti & Cosmas (1991) reported that both supervisor and co-worker support correlated positively with measures of overall job satisfaction and work group cohesiveness.

Conversely, the scale’s validity is also demonstrated through its inverse relationship with negative job outcomes. Lim (1996) found that consolidated work-based support correlated negatively with detrimental factors such as job insecurity, job dissatisfaction, and engagement in noncompliant job behaviors. These findings confirm that high scores on the scale are associated with psychological adjustment and positive organizational citizenship.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the Social Support scale is consistently high, affirming its reliability for use in research. The supervisor support subscale has shown particularly strong reliability, with reported Coefficient alpha values ranging robustly from .86 to .91 across various studies (Lee & Ashforth, 1993; Repeti & Cosmas, 1991).

The co-worker support subscale also exhibits acceptable internal consistency, with a reported Coefficient alpha of .79 (Repeti & Cosmas, 1991). Furthermore, when researchers combine the supervisor and co-worker items into a composite measure of work-based support (an eight-item scale), the resulting coefficient alpha remains high at .80 (Lim, 1996), indicating that the work-related items function reliably both separately and as a unified measure.

Factor Analysis

The factorial structure of the social support items has been investigated to determine whether instrumental and emotional support should be treated as separate factors. Scheck, Kinicki, and Davy (1995) employed Confirmatory Factor Analysis to test competing models.

Their analysis revealed that the model providing the best fit to the data was one that combined the measures of instrumental social support and emotional social support into a single, higher-order construct. This suggests that while the scale items are designed to capture distinct functions of support, employees often perceive the availability of support as a unified resource, regardless of its specific instrumental or emotional nature.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire

Format: 5-point Likert-type scale

Language Available: Primarily English (Likely translated for international use in subsequent studies)

Population Group: Employees/Workers

Age Group: Adult (Working population)

Population Details: Individuals employed in various occupational settings, often utilized in studies focusing on job demands, stress, and health outcomes.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate the extent to which specific individuals (supervisor, co-workers, personal network) fulfill four defined supportive roles.

Keywords

Organizational Stress, Psychological Measurement, Worker Health, Likert Scale, Cohesiveness, Job Insecurity, Work-based Support, Reliability, Validity, Caplan et al. (1975).

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source material.

Correspondence Address: Institute of Social Research, University of Michigan (Original publication affiliation).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The original items were published in 1980 in the monograph Job demands and worker health by Caplan et al., and were reproduced with permission by the copyright holder (University of Michigan, Institute of Social Research). Researchers seeking to use the scale should consult the original publication or the Institute of Social Research regarding current licensing and permission requirements.

Test Year: Development began in 1975; items published in 1980.

Reference’s

• Caplan, R. D., Cobb, S., French, J. R. P., Van Harrison, R., & Pinneau. S. R. (1980). Job demands and worker health. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Institute of Social Research.
• Lee, R. T., & Ashforth, B. E. (1993). A longitudinal study of the effects of job demands and social support on burnout and psychological distress. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(5), 878-886.
• Lim, V. K. G. (1996). Job insecurity and its outcomes: The moderating effect of social support and coping. Human Relations, 49(2), 171-193.
• Repeti, R. L., & Cosmas, K. A. (1991). The effects of perceived social support on psychological distress and job satisfaction in teachers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83(3), 384-390.
• Scheck, C. L., Kinicki, A. J., & Davy, J. A. (1995). A confirmatory factor analysis of the social support scale. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80(2), 296-302.

Items of the Social Support scale

Responses are obtained on a 5-point Likert-type scale where 4 = very much, 3 = somewhat, 2 = a little, I = not at all, and O=don’t have any such person.

1. How much does each of these people go out of their way to do things to make your work life easier for you?
   1. Your immediate supervisor
   2. Other people at work
   3. Your wife [husband], friends and relatives

2. How easy is it to talk with each of the following people?
   1. Your immediate supervisor
   2. Other people at work
   3. Your wife [husband], friends and relatives

3. How much can each of these people be relied on when things get tough at work?
   1. Your immediate supervisor (boss)
   2. Other people at work
   3. Your wife [husband], friends and relatives

4. How much is each of the following people willing to listen to your personal problems?
   1. Your immediate supervisor
   2. Other people at work
   3. Your wife [husband], friends and relatives

The items labeled A (IA, 2A, 3A, 4A) constitute the Social Support from Supervisor Index. Similarly, the items labeled B and C constitute the Social Support from Others at Work Index and the Social Support from Wife, Friends and Relatives Index.