An Investigation into the Relationship between Workplace Friendships, Affective Organisational Commitment, Helping Behaviour, and Intention to Stay

Van Der Horst, Megan

An Investigation into the Relationship between Workplace Friendships, Affective Organisational Commitment, Helping Behaviour, and Intention to Stay

Thesis / Dissertation

2023

Abstract

Orientation: In order to effectively engage in the so-called ‘war for talent', organisations need to understand the various factors which result in desirable organisational outcomes, such as those related to employee engagement and retention. As human beings are inherently social, their access to and experience of workplace friendships may introduce the various emotional, cognitive and behavioural benefits associated with friendships in one's personal life to the workplace. Research Purpose: To conduct an empirical study using a sample obtained from the general working population to investigate the direct relationship between workplace friendships and intention to stay, as well as the indirect relationship mediated by helping behaviour and affective organisational commitment. Rationale for the Study: Developing a better understanding of the relationship between workplace friendships and employees' intention to stay may assist organisations in putting interventions in place to increase employees' intention to stay, ultimately reducing employee turnover. Despite compelling evidence that having a friend at work holds several potential benefits for both individuals (e.g., lower levels of stress) and organisations (e.g., improved job and organisational performance), approximately 40% of employees report not having a friend in the workplace. Therefore, there is room for an investigation into this phenomenon which, although seemingly scarce, holds the potential to provide various benefits to both individual employees and organisations. Method: A descriptive research design and quantitative cross-sectional research approach were employed to investigate the direct relationship between workplace friendships and intention to stay and the indirect relationships mediated by helping behaviour and affective organisational commitment. Based on evidence found in the literature, personality was considered an important extraneous or confounding variable in these relationships, and, therefore, the analyses were conducted both by controlling for personality and not. An online questionnaire was designed, and judgement sampling was employed to collect data across the general working population (n = 216). The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, correlation analyses and multiple regression analyses. Main Findings: A significant positive relationship was found between workplace friendships and intention to stay. It was further found that affective organisational commitment significantly mediated the indirect relationship between workplace friendships and intention to stay. The indirect relationship mediated by helping behaviour was not found to be significant. Workplace friendships and helping behaviours were, however, found to be significantly correlated with one another. Furthermore, albeit slightly weaker, statistically significant relationships between the constructs of interest were found after controlling for personality. Contribution: The current study has contributed to organisational behaviour literature on the role of, and associated benefits of, workplace friendships for both employees, as well as organisations, being an antecedent of intention to stay, affective organisational commitment and helping behaviour. Importantly, by considering the confounding role of personality on the relationships of interest and viewing personality as a covariant, the current study further contributes to the literature by considering the above-mentioned relationships while controlling for the effect of personality. Furthermore, the current study's findings may be pertinent to human resource management practitioners, general managers, and industrial/organisational psychologists in pursuit of the various benefits associated with workplace friendships. These results will, hopefully, be used to make recommendations to organisations on how they could encourage the establishment and maintenance of workplace friendships, as well as the benefits thereof, in such that workplace friendships become a positive contributor to employee wellbeing and organisational effectiveness. Recommendations for Future Studies: The current study illuminates several additional questions which could be addressed in future studies, such as, why employees do not make friends at work to the same extent that they do in their personal lives. Furthermore, the impact of Covid-19-related changes on how employees work and interact should be investigated by researching workplace friendships in alignment with employees working in a hybrid or fully remote arrangement. Whether the associated benefits deem the associated efforts of each friendship type worthwhile, as well as negative individual and organisational outcomes or consequences of workplace friendships should also be addressed by future studies to gain a more holistic understanding of the potential costs and benefits of workplace friendships. The inclusion of a qualitative component to the research, could allow future researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the factors that relate to the constructs of interest. Finally, future research should investigate variables of interest across different countries, cultures and contexts to contribute to literature and expand the understanding of these relationships in the workplace. Managerial Implications: By developing organisational strategies aimed at creating opportunities for friendships formation and nurturing such friendships once formed, employers may be able to increase the presence of helping behaviour, as well as the level of affective organisational commitment among employees, ultimately increasing talent retention and mitigating the direct and indirect turnover-related costs.

Keywords

Organisational Psychology

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