Table of Contents
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