Workplace Friendships: Antecedents, Consequences, and New Challenges for Employees and Organizations

Natalie A. David (), James A. Coutinho () and Julia Brennecke ()
Additional contact information
Natalie A. David: HuManiS (UR 7308), University of Strasbourg
James A. Coutinho: Swinburne University of Technology
Julia Brennecke: University of Liverpool

A chapter in Understanding Workplace Relationships, 2023, pp 325-368 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Workplace friendships, i.e., when work colleagues are also friends, are a widespread phenomenon in organizations which has attracted increasing research interest in recent decades. Numerous studies have investigated consequences of workplace friendships and found positive outcomes, such as increased employee job satisfaction or organizational performance, as well as negative outcomes, such as decreased knowledge-sharing between different friendship cliques. Other studies have examined what shapes workplace friendships, focusing on determinants such as personality or the spatial composition of organizations. Finally, an increasing number of studies focus on multiplex workplace friendships, where employees who are friends are also linked by a specific work-focused relationship. In this chapter, we first take stock of the literature on workplace friendships by providing an overview of their antecedents and consequences at the individual, the group, and the organizational level, and review the smaller body of research on multiplex workplace friendships. Second, we critically discuss practical implications of workplace friendships, focusing on their relevance to three current challenges for employees and organizations: the increase in virtual work, social inequalities in organizations, and the increased overlap of professional and private life. Finally, we provide recommendations for organizations on how to address these challenges and effectively manage workplace friendships.

Keywords: Workplace friendships; Multiplex relationships; Virtual work; Workplace inequalities; Work-life balance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-16640-2_11

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031166402

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-16640-2_11

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().