Sowing the seeds of love: Cultivating perceptions of culture of companionate love through listening and its effects on organizational outcomes

Abstract

AbstractFostering a culture of companionate love in the workplace offers numerous benefits for employees, yet the methods for achieving this remain unclear. We propose that high‐quality listening, characterized by undivided attention, understanding, and a positive and non‐judgmental intention toward the speaker, could be a key facilitator. We hypothesized that such listening could enhance employees' perceptions of companionate love. Additionally, we hypothesized that an enhanced perception of companionate love would increase employees' subjective well‐being, resilience, affective commitment, and willingness to cooperate at work. To examine these hypotheses, we conducted four studies. Study 1 was a preregistered and highly‐powered field study (N = 752) involving employees from various organizations. Study 2 (N = 37), was a longitudinal research that included a listening training of 16 hours for teachers in a single school. Study 3 was a quasi‐field experiment within a risk‐management company, with employees receiving 12 hours of listening education while a waitlist served as a control group (N = 67). Study 4 was a quasi‐experiment that served as a conceptual replication and extension of Studies 2 and 3. The study involved listening training for employees in a global communications company, providing 14 hours of online listening training. An active control group (N = 60) was included. Across all studies, we found that feeling listened to by colleagues led to increased perceptions of companionate love in the organization, which, in turn, increased employees' subjective well‐being, resilience, affective organizational commitment, and willingness to collaborate. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.