Does informal support from colleagues matter? Work engagement of salespeople

While managerial leadership and formal support have been widely emphasised in the literature, a gap remains in understanding how informal support functions. According to social exchange theory (SET), substantial and formal support from colleagues and institutions is essential for employee outcomes. This study investigates the sufficient and necessary conditions of peer support, informal support from managers in other departments, and formal support from direct managers, in relation to work engagement and self-evaluation of success. This study makes a theoretical contribution by demonstrating that informal or emotional support is vital for salespeople’s self-evaluation of success. A survey was conducted among 140 salespeople in Hong Kong, most of whom were from the insurance industry and had five to ten years of sales experience. Necessary condition analysis (NCA) and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) were employed. SEM is a standard method for examining the sufficiency of relationships between variables. NCA was performed to capture the asymmetrical relationships between variables and enhance the validity of PLS-SEM findings. The results indicated that informal support from managers in other departments was both a sufficient and necessary factor affecting work engagement and salespeople’s self-evaluation of success.