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 Pakistan

Meta-analytic structural equation modeling for exploring workplace friendship, well-being, and organizational commitment

BACKGROUND

Workplace friendships, which are informal relationships in the workplace, foster mutual trust, assistance, and emotional support and create a sense of belonging among coworkers. Employees with positive perceptions of their job responsibilities, psychological needs, and work environment experience happiness, satisfaction, and an overall sense of well-being. A heightened sense of well-being in the workplace positively affects employee satisfaction with job tasks and the work environment, reinforcing employees' sense of belonging and organizational commitment.

OBJECTIVE

The study proposed and validated a theoretical model, with meta-analytic structural equation modeling employed to conduct quantitative, empirical research on workplace friendships, well-being, and organizational commitment in Taiwan and to analyze correlations between relevant variables.

METHODS

The theoretical model was further validated through structural equation modeling, which yielded favorable goodness of fit in terms of various indicators.

RESULTS

The mediating effect of well-being was verified through bootstrapping analysis. Within a 95% confidence interval, the total effect size of workplace friendships on organizational commitment was 0.549, which is the sum of its direct effect (0.255) and indirect effect (0.294).

CONCLUSIONS

This finding indicates that well-being plays a mediating role in the association between workplace friendships and organizational commitment. The proposed theoretical model in this study is supported. Finally, the research results are discussed, and practical suggestions are provided.

Workplace friendship, employee well-being and knowledge hiding: The moderating role of the perception of Chaxu climate

In recent years, knowledge hiding has become a hot topic in the field of organizational behavior because of its great harm. However, relevant studies have focused only on the negative interpersonal antecedents of knowledge hiding but neglected the inhibition effect of positive informal relationships on the behavior. To fill this gap, the current study develops a moderated mediation model to investigate how and when workplace friendship has a negative impact on knowledge hiding. Drawing on social exchange theory (SET), we propose that workplace friendship inhibits knowledge hiding through the mediating role of employee well-being, with the Perception of Chaxu climate acting as a boundary condition. Using data from a two-wave time-lagged survey of 279 employees in China, the results show that workplace friendship has a negative impact on knowledge hiding behavior. Specifically, workplace friendship inhibits knowledge hiding by satisfied employee well-being, i.e., workplace friendship has a positive impact on employee well-being, while employee well-being has a negative impact on knowledge hiding. Perception of Chaxu Climate moderates the indirect effect, as the level of employee's Perception of Chaxu climate rises, the direct effect of workplace friendship on employee well-being is stronger, so as the indirect effect of workplace friendship on knowledge hiding. This article explores the mechanisms affecting employee knowledge hiding from a new interpersonal perspective of workplace friendship. It is enlightened that firms should pay attention to the management of workplace friendship, provide employee with opportunities to establish workplace friendship while providing proper guidance on the direction of workplace friendship and improving the quality of it, in order to promote employees' happiness perception and organizational knowledge management ability.

How to stimulate employees’ innovative behavior: Internal social capital, workplace friendship and innovative identity

With the digital transformation of the economy and the rise of community innovation, how stimulating employees’ innovative behavior (EIB) becomes the basis for building sustainable competitive advantage in organizations. However, research has yet to systematically investigate the effect of internal social capital (ISC) on EIB. Based on social identity theory and resource conservation theory, this paper constructs a model to explain the mediating role of II between ISC and EIB and the moderating role of workplace friendship (WF). Using SPSS 27 and Amos 24 to analyze the data of 284 questionnaires, the results show that (1) ISC has a positive effect on EIB, (2) II plays a partial mediating effect in the relationship between ISC and EIB, and (3) WF has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between ISC and EIB. The conclusion provides management insight and practical guidance for creating an internal organizational climate to promote EIBs.

Impact of Demographic Characteristics on Workplace Friendship: A Meta-Analytic Review

Although demographic characteristics are the most analyzed variables in the literature on workplace friendship, their effects on its formation and development remain unclear, owing to conflicting results. To draw generalizable conclusions, this study employed meta-analytical techniques to examine the relationships between employees' demographic characteristics and their workplace friendship, and investigated whether collectivism and year of data collection moderated this relationship. Seventy-seven empirical pieces of literature and 219 correlations (N = 34,856) were included in the final meta-analysis. Our findings revealed that male employees acquired more workplace friendships than female employees, and that organizational tenure, hierarchical position, and education were positively related to workplace friendships. However, employees' age and marital status had no significant effect on workplace friendships. Furthermore, the results of the moderating effects analysis suggested that, as collectivism diminished and data collection was delayed, the impact of certain demographic characteristics on workplace friendships became weaker.

Linking Leader’s Behavioral Integrity With Workplace Ostracism: A Mediated-Moderated Model

Drawing on the social exchange theory (SET) and research on leadership influences, we developed and inspected a multilevel model to test the conditions and mechanisms through which a leader’s behavioral integrity (LBI) deters workplace ostracism (WO). We used trust as a mediator and the narcissistic personality of a leader as a boundary condition in the connection between a LBI and WO. Data were collected from 249 employees working in different five- and four-star hotels in Pakistan over three time lags. The statistical results revealed that a LBI reduces WO. Additionally, a LBI has an indirect effect on WO through interpersonal trust. We did not find statistical support for the moderating role of the narcissistic personality of a leader in the relationship between a LBI and WO. Implications, along with limitations and future research directions, are also discussed.

Ethical Conflict and Knowledge Hiding in Teams: Moderating Role of Workplace Friendship in Education Sector

Ethical conflicts arise when there is no unity between the team members and shared ethical priorities. This study aimed to identify the relationship between ethical value unity, team knowledge hiding, the relationship between the lack of shared ethical priorities and the team knowledge hiding. Workplace friendship was taken as a moderating variable to check its regulating role between the ethical conflicts and the team knowledge hiding. Data of this study were collected from the staff working in different colleges and universities. There are a total of 480 responses collected through convenience sampling technique and analyzed under a five-point Likert scale. The partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique is used in this study. The key reason was that this approach has the fewest requirements for data normality and is a better tool for evaluating exploratory connections empirically. The output of the measurement model assessment confirms that all measurement scales are reliable. The result indicates that there was a significant and positive relationship between ethical value congruence and knowledge hiding. It was also established that there was a relationship between lack of shared ethical priorities and knowledge hiding. Workplace friendship moderated the relationship between ethical conflicts and team knowledge hiding. This study extends the literature on ethical conflict and knowledge hiding behavior. This study highlights that one of the main reasons for knowledge hiding behavior at the team level in the organization is which helps the business practicians for a design of an effective strategy to mitigate the knowledge hiding behavior in the organization.