Positive and negative workplace relationships, social satisfaction, and organizational attachment

Vijaya Venkataramani, Giuseppe Joe Labianca, Travis Grosser

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

109 Scopus citations

Abstract

We examine how employees' centrality in the networks of positively valenced ties (e.g., friendship, advice) and negatively valenced ties (e.g., avoidance) at work interact to affect these employees' organizational attachment. Using 2 different samples (154 employees in a division of a food and animal science organization and 144 employees in a product development firm), we found that employees' centrality in positive and negative tie networks at work were related to their organizational attachment indirectly via their impact on employees' satisfaction with their workplace relationships. Further, interaction results in both studies suggest that the effect of employees' centrality in positive tie networks on their satisfaction with workplace social relationships was stronger when employees had more negative relationships but was irrelevant when employees had fewer negative ties. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1028-1039
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Applied Psychology
Volume98
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2013

Keywords

  • Negative relationships
  • Network centrality
  • Organizational attachment
  • Work attitudes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Applied Psychology

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