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This article aims to examine how situational constraints impact clients' valuations of the task and socio‐emotional resources exchanged when interacting with consultants. In consultant‐client relationships, the emphasis on economic resources has commodified these interactions into explicit exchanges of time, money, and deliverables.

A total of five hypotheses were tested using a within‐subjects experimental design. Subjects consisted of 110 adult professionals who were presented with five different scenarios in a random sequence and asked to rank order and evaluate a list of professional‐service resources.

The valuation of resources was found to change when situational constraints were present. Regardless of the context, task resources were generally valued more than socio‐emotional resources. When relational constraints were salient, socio‐emotional resources were valued more in long‐term than short‐term relationships. When faced with time pressure or budgetary constraints, task needs were valued more than socio‐emotional needs.

There is potential bias due to snowball sampling, and the hypothetical nature of the experimental scenarios limits the generalizability of this study.

For clients, this research indicates that the context surrounding consultant‐client interactions plays an important role in shaping clients' valuation of resources, both individually and collectively. For consultants, these findings suggest that a “one‐size‐fits‐all” strategy is not the most effective way to approach consultant‐client interactions.

This study contributes to our knowledge about how situational constraints impact clients' valuation of the task and socio‐emotional resources offered by consultants.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on three organizational support factors that could potentially improve organizational commitment among downsizing survivors.

Using a sample of 2,751 employees, a secondary analysis of employee survey data examined the hypotheses that customer service orientation (CSO) and equity would moderate the strength of the two‐way interaction between perceived organizational support (POS) and perceived supervisor support (PSS) when predicting organizational commitment among downsizing survivors. In this way, the impact of CSO (H1) or equity (H2) would be stronger when POS and PSS were low. A third hypothesis (H3) examined whether survivors' organizational tenure was positively related to organizational commitment.

H1 and H2 were partially confirmed, indicating that CSO compensated most when PSS was low and that equity compensated most when POS was low among downsizing survivors. H3 was not confirmed as no positive correlation was found between survivors' increased organizational tenure and organizational commitment.

The sample was drawn from one US organization and, because this was a secondary analysis, established scales could not be used for some constructs. Most of the variance in the exploratory factor analysis was on the first factor, POS.

Organizations should make every attempt to maintain or increase survivors' CSO and equity in order to improve organizational commitment. In addition, organizations cannot necessarily rely on their longer‐tenured employees to stay committed after a downsizing.

The study uncovered two previously unknown findings regarding the importance of CSO and equity to the organizational commitment of survivors.

The purpose of this research is to focus on organizational support factors that facilitate organizational commitment among downsizing survivors. High attrition by employees who “survive” layoffs is common and costly.

Using a sample of 2,751 employees, a secondary analysis of employee survey data examined the effects of perceived organizational support (POS), perceived supervisor support (PSS), and gender on downsizing survivors' organizational commitment.

Findings indicate that organizational commitment is positively related to both POS and PSS, with POS accounting for a greater increment of variance. When predicting organizational commitment subsequent to a downsizing, POS and PSS compensate for each other in that: POS moderates the association between PSS and organizational commitment, such that the relationship becomes stronger as the level of POS decreases; and PSS moderates the association between POS and organizational commitment, such that the relationship becomes weaker as the level of PSS increases. Gender moderates the two‐way interaction between POS and PSS when predicting organizational commitment such that the interaction is stronger among men than for women.

The effect sizes associated with the interactions are small and because this was a secondary analysis, we could not use established scales for some constructs. Also, the sample was drawn from one USA organization and may not generalize to other organizational settings.

The items contained in our scales suggest multiple ways that organizations can make their employees feel more supported in terms of both POS and PSS.

This study found a previously unknown interaction among POS and PSS that was moderated by gender.