The impact of length of unemployment and perceived organisational support on employees’ socio-emotional needs.

Abstract

This study examined the influence of length of unemployment and perceived organisational support on employee‘s socio-emotional needs. Two hundred participating employees for this study were from Petroleum servicing companies in South Western Nigeria. One hundred and fourteen (57%) of the subjects were males while eighty-six (43%) were females. The subjects‘ age ranges from 18 to 58 years with a mean age of 33.61. Using standardised measures, four hypotheses were tested and analysed on a 2 x 2 ANOVA. The result obtained showed significant main effects of length of unemployment and perceived organisational support on socio-emotional needs; [F (194, 1) = 9.40; P < .05; F (194, 2) = 33.84; P < .05]. The study however revealed no significant interaction effect of length of unemployment and perceived organisational support on socio-emotional needs (F (194, 2) = 0.35; P > .05). Finally, based on the findings of this research, it was recommended that since perceived organisational support has been revealed to increase employees socio-emotional needs, employers should care for the well being of their employees as it will be a bonus towards motivating them to be able to actualise the set goals and objectives of the organisation.

Key words: socio-emotional, unemployment, organizational support, employee