The Role of Organizational Nostalgia in Promoting Informal Social Interactions

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many organizations to implement social distancing policies, disrupting social interactions among employees. As informal social interactions are less likely to spontaneously occur at workplace under social distancing measures, it is important then to examine what could motivate employees to initiate more informal social interactions so that communications and bonding among employees can be maintained during the pandemic. Incorporating the literature on organizational nostalgia and social support, we hypothesized that both trait and state organizational nostalgia are positively associated with informal social interactions, which in turn enhance one’s job satisfaction and positive affect. The results from two studies, employing a cross-sectional design and a 5-day daily diary design respectively, supported our hypotheses, and their practical implications for during and beyond the pandemic are discussed.