The Relationship between Social Exchange, Employee Empowerment, and Organizational Efficiency in the Foodservice Industry

외식기업의 사회적 교환 관계, 임파워먼트, 조직 유효성의 관계 연구

This study was conducted to suggest effective alternatives for human resource management in the foodservice industry by investigating the influence of social exchange on employee empowerment and organizational efficiency, The findings derived from the study are as follows: First, the major components of social exchange, organizational support and the leader-member exchange (LMX), significantly influenced the components of employee empowerment such as signification and self-determination. Secondly, we found that signification and self-determination had a significant impact on the turnover intentions and organizational commitment of the employees, which in turn organizational efficiency. Thirdly, both the employees' turnover intentions and organizational commitment were significantly influenced by the organizational support and the leader-member exchange. These results suggest that it is necessary to have active communication between organizational leaders and members to improve employee empowerment. In other words, employees should acknowledge the meaning and importance of their tasks and support at the organizational level should be provided to ensure employee empowerment.