Workplace Romance and Job Performance: Mediation Through Relational Capital and Knowledge Acquisition

Abstract

There is a lot of loving going on in the offices. The fact is that we are all human beings and when you put human beings together for 8 or 10 hours a day stuff is just going to happen which have its impact. This study examines the effect of lateral heterosexual workplace romance on employee performance. We examined the role of relational capital and knowledge acquisition as serial mediators in the relationship between workplace romance and employee performance. By collecting data in three rounds from 394 doctors working in Chinese hospitals through surveys and using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping, we found that lateral heterosexual workplace romance positively influences employee performance. We also found that the two serial mediators—relational capital, and knowledge acquisition—significantly mediate the effect of workplace romance on employee performance. Our study has important implications for managers and policymakers as the positive effects of a workplace romance are not confined to those involved; instead, these effects go beyond personal knowledge and job-related and psychological outcomes to have constructive, as well as affective influences in the form of positive emotions, care, trust, and reciprocity.