Felt accountability: the role of personality and organizational factors

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to employ the meso-level theory of felt accountability to investigate the relationships among positive affect, negative affect, perceived organizational support, organizational structure and felt accountability. Design/methodology/approach To avoid common method bias, this study employed a time-lag data collection technique in collecting data from 132 participants. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the relationships among the variables. Findings The results show a positive association between positive affect and perceived organizational support and felt accountability, whereas negative affect and organizational structure were negatively correlated with felt accountability, in that machine structures constraint the development of felt accountability. Originality/value This research advances the meso-level theory of felt accountability and social exchange frameworks by integrating personality and organizational factors influencing felt accountability, and demonstrating that that the tangible advantages offered by an organization are reciprocated by employees’ accountability.