Discussion
In this paper, we investigated the role of line managers and the HR department as important
representatives of the organisation in the establishment of social exchange relationships. Our
results indicate that both HR actors have a significant role to play in steering employees’
affective commitment to the organization. Line managers seem to have the strongest
influence. The sum of the effects of both components of the line manager’s HRM role
(management (β=0.19); leadership (β=0.20)) is higher as compared to the effect of the HR
department’s service quality (β=0.27). We did not find evidence of an interaction effect
between the roles of both actors. This suggests that line managers and the HR department
have a distinct, independent role in HRM implementation towards employees