Rethinking Love at the Office: Antecedents and Consequences of Coworker Evaluations of Workplace Romances

Abstract

Researchers have pointed out a wide variety of organizational effects attributable to workplace romances, concluding that the impact of such romances on the workgroup can range from positive to negative. To date, however, little research has attempted to pinpoint the elements leading to this divergence. We suggest that coworker evaluation of a romance or anticipatory injustice may play a key role in influencing the positive or negative impact of the relationship on the workgroup at large. Our model proposes that three separate mechanisms (procedural fairness, intragroup cognitive dissonance, and normative adjustment), each corresponding to a different domain of evaluation, may mediate the apparent relationship between coworker evaluation of a romance and various aspects of group performance. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.