VIRTUAL INTRAORGANIZATIONAL AUTHORITY RELATIONSHIPS: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRUST, SUPPORT, AND INFLUENCE.

Virtual authority relationships are increasing in organizations; yet these relationships are ill defined and their effect on relationships between supervisors and their employees is uncertain. From a study of employees working in a variety of virtual settings, we obtained initial support for a multi-dimensional measure of virtual intraorganizational authority relationships. Our results further indicate that employee perceptions of upward trust, supervisor support, control, and employees' upward influence strategies are related to the virtual status of their authority relationships with their supervisors.