Can Workplace Friendship Reduce Social Loafing?

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between workplace friendship and social loafing effect among employees in Certified Public Accounting (CPA) firms. Previous studies showed that workplace friendship has both positive and negative effects, meaning that there is an inconsistent relationship between workplace friendship and social loafing. The present study investigated the correlation between workplace friendship and social loafing effect among employees from CPA firms in Taiwan. The study results revealed that there was a negative relationship between workplace friendship and social loafing effect among CPA employees. In other words, the better the workplace friendship, the lower the social loafing effect. An individual would not put less effort in work when there was a low social loafing effect.