The presence of social support among co-workers increases positive social interactions, individual wellbeing as well as work performance (Yip et al., 2018). Nevertheless, research and conclusions remain fragmented (Bavik, Shaw, & Wang, 2020). Despite being an interpersonal construct, measures of social support, to date, predominantly relied on retrospective individual assessments neglecting behavioral indicators of social support in interactions (Feeney & Collins, 2015; Lübstorf & Lehmann-Willenbrock, 2020). Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore and establish behavioral indictors of social support in team interaction and their relationship to team members’ wellbeing and work-related outcomes.
Building on the model of social support in teams (MSST; Hüffmeier & Hertel, 2011), we distinguished between affective and task-related social support behaviors to offer an original way of studying social support among team members in real-life settings as well as of positive social interactions.
Methodologically, fine-grained behaviors during N = 54 one-hour team interaction sequences of N = 309 individuals were videotaped, coded and analyzed. Multilevel modeling yielded that affective social support predicts team members’ satisfaction (B =0.16, p = .001) and teams’ climate for innovation (B = 0.14, p = .008).
Our study provides valuable insights into the research stream of positive relationships at work (e.g., Dutton & Ragins, 2007). It contributes to a new understanding of actual social support behaviors at work signifying positive social interactions. From a practical point of view, a greater understanding of the behavioral indicators allows to train and tailor such supportive behaviors at work in order to foster wellbeing and performance.