Adult Attachment and Workplace Romance Motives: A Path to Performance

Abstract

Employees’ motives for engaging in intimate relationships with their coworkers can have a substantial impact on their performance (e.g., Dillard, 1987) and how they are perceived by others (e.g., Cole, 2009). We integrate attachment theory with theories applied in the workplace romance literature to highlight how employees’ dispositional approaches to close relationships can lead to different types of workplace romance which, in turn, have differential effects on employee performance. Responses from 756 employees involved in romantic relationships at their organization illustrate that employees’ motives for engaging in workplace romance serve as mechanisms through which their attachment patterns impact their intrinsic work motivation, job performance, and individual-directed organizational citizenship behavior (OCB–I). Specifically, results show that love- motivated workplace romance enables attachment avoidance to increase employee motivation, performance, and OCB–I, whereas job-motivated workplace romance enables attachment anxiety to decrease employee motivation, performance, and OCB–I. Results hold implications regarding the need for managers and employees to maintain an awareness of their relationship-oriented goals and behaviors, the utility of fraternization policies, and the potential consequences of different types of workplace romance.