I wanted to alert you to some recent findings concerning a topic that interests us
both, which is the relationships between friendships at work and job satisfaction.
The first article I came across has three hypotheses with the goal of the research
to examine how supervisor integrity and ardent employee behavior is affected or
even changed by workplace friendship (Guohao et al., 2021). The article surveyed
employees from 20 different service industries in Pakistan with a sample size of
266 (N-266). One of the variables was affective responsibility and a 5-point Likert
scale was used to measure this variable. The second variable was employee
ardent behavior. Control variables were gender, age, education, how long they had
been working at their jobs, and how much they made. The two-tailed analysis
used was descriptive statistics and correlation, and the findings supported
supervisor integrity in behavior is positively associated with proactive behavior by
employees (r+0.315, p<0.001) (Guohao et al., 2021). The researchers wanted to
demonstrate that having friends in the workplace can fill a social need, bettering
the workforce through friendship and attachment.
In the second article, a study researched friendships of differing ages and how in
the workplace there were positive aspects in this regard, but there were also
negative aspects such as interplay encounters. The sample size was N=186.
There were six hypotheses, the first three one-directional and the last three
bidirectional. The dyad test used Likert scales to provide a working method for
the constructs. The variables were friendship, perceived oneness, willingness to
cooperate, role conflicts, job satisfaction, and turnover desires (Fasbender &
Drury, 2021). Control variables were age and gender. The results showed that
there were both positive and negative correlations, including job satisfaction and
turnover intentions, but these were not attributed to a desire to cooperate and
feelings of oneness.
The papers were similar to the extent that they showed that friendship at work
can enhance the job in a social aspect and give more meaning and depth to
going to work, but at the same time conflicts can cause jeopardy where there
was once a oneness of attitude. I am further reminded of what the Bible says, “to
do nothing out of selfish desire or to better only oneself, but to humble yourself
and value others higher than your own desires, always looking out for the
interests and needs of others” (Philippians 2:3-4, paraphrased). I will continue to
study these aspects as they have merit in my own place of employment.
References
English Standard Version Bible (2001) Crossway. Wheaton, Il. (original work in
1611)
Fasbender, U., & Drury, L. (2021). One plus one equals one: age-diverse friendship
and its complex relation to employees’ job satisfaction and turnover intentions.
European journal of work and organizational d d psychology, 1-14.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2021.2006637 (Links to an external site.)
Guohao, L., Pervaiz, S., & Qi, H. (2021). Workplace friendship is a blessing in the
exploration of supervisor behavioral integrity, affective commitment, and
employee proactive behavior – An empirical research from service industries of
