Co-worker Relationships Research Articles

The negative effects of delays in information exchange: Looking at workplace relationships from an affective events perspective

Although timely exchange of information is critical to organizations, it often fails to happen. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework for understanding how delays in information exchange negatively impact employee outcomes. Using affective events theory, delays are conceptualized as workplace events. In contrast to prior delay research, we adopt a temporal perspective for studying employees' experiences during a delay and how these experiences influence interpersonal behavior. We suggest that how employees appraise and experience delays depends, critically, upon the coworker and his or her behavior during the delay. We also identify a set of situational and dispositional factors that are important for predicting when delays in information exchange are likely to undermine coworker relationships and when they are not. Throughout the paper, we develop propositions to guide research and human resource management practice.

Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee performance

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to identify the key determinants of employee engagement and their predictability of the concept. It also studies the impact of employee engagement on employee performance.Design/methodology/approach– Causal study was done to study the impact of relationships. A survey questionnaire was developed and validated using a pilot data (a=0.975). Simple random sampling was used to select the employees from middle and lower managerial levels from small-scale organisations. A total of 700 questionnaires were distributed and 383 valid responses collected. Regression and structural equation modelling were used to predict and estimate the relationships.Findings– It was found that all the identified factors were predictors of employee engagement (r2, 0.672), however, the variables that had major impact were working environment and team and co-worker relationship. Employee engagement had significant impact on employee performance (r2, 0.597).Practical implications– Special focus and effort is required specifically on the factors working-environment and team and co-worker relationship as they have shown significantly higher impact on employee engagement and hence employee performance. Organisations shall focus on presenting a great environment for employees to work and promote programmes that would enhance peer relationships.Social implications– The determinants of employee engagement connote a healthy working atmosphere that reflects on the social impact created by the organisation. Employees would enjoy considerable attention in terms of the determinants being addressed.Originality/value– The research emphasises the growing importance and need for crystallisation of the concept of employee engagement. The research is unique in respect to the comprehensive model that is developed and validated.

A theoretical model of the antecedents and outcomes of employee engagement

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical model that links the major antecedents, outcomes, and moderators of employee engagement.Design/methodology/approach– This paper uses the first part of Dubin's two-part, eight-step theory-building methodology, and builds on existing research and empirical studies on engagement. In particular, the following five steps of the Dubin's methodology are addressed in this study: units (or concepts) of the theory, laws of interaction among the units, boundaries of the theory, system states of the theory, and propositions of the theory.Findings– The proposed theoretical model of employee engagement identifies job design and characteristics, supervisor and co-worker relationships, workplace environment, and HRD practices as the major antecedents to employee engagement. The paper also proposes that job demands and individual characteristics act as moderators to the relationships between job design and characteristics, supervisor and co-worker relationships, workplace environment, and employee engagement. Finally, it is proposed that employee engagement is related to three major organizational outcomes: job performance, turnover intention (inverse relationship), and organizational citizenship behavior.Originality/value– This paper addresses the paucity of structured literature on the antecedents and outcomes of employee engagement and presents a comprehensive, holistic model that offers a logical ground on which empirical indicators and hypotheses could be further identified and tested to verify the theory.

The Impact of Work-Family Conflicts, Coworker Relationships and Salary Levels on Turnover Intention: Using Real Estate Brokers as Examples

This study examined the effects of work-family conflicts, coworker relationships and salary levels on the turnover intentions of real estate brokers. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed for the purpose of data collection, and 313 valid samples were retrieved. The results showed that work-family conflicts have a significant influence on job stress and turnover intention but not on job satisfaction. Coworker relationships significantly influence job stress, job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and while salary levels do not have a direct or significant influence, they indirectly influence turnover intention by mediating the effects of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. This study treated work-family conflicts, coworker relationships and salary levels as exogenous variables, and adopted the turnover intention model, which is a linear structural model.

Social Relations, Incentives, and Gender in the Workplace

Gender differences in preferences regarding social relationships and competitive environments are well documented in psychology and economics. Research also shows that social relationships and competition among co-workers are affected by the incentive schemes workers are exposed to. We combine these two stylized facts and hypothesize that men and women differ in how they rate their co-worker relationships when they work under individual incentives, group incentives, or a combination of the two. This hypothesis is explored using survey data on 14,743 highly educated employees from 78 different organizations in the Netherlands. We find correlational evidence that, in the absence of individual incentives, group incentives improve co-worker relationships for women, but deteriorate co-worker relationships for men.

Identifying Work Setting Profile Factors From the Career Pathway Evaluation Program

To describe the work factors associated with 28 different career areas as reported by pharmacists who responded to the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Career Pathway Evaluation Program for Pharmacy Professionals, 2012 Pharmacist Profile Survey. Data from the 1,119 completed survey instruments from the 2012 Pharmacist Profile Survey were analyzed. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify the underlying factors that best represented respondents' work setting profiles. Eleven underlying factors were identified for the respondents' work setting profiles: patient care, application of clinical knowledge, innovation, stress, research, managerial responsibility, work schedule flexibility, job position flexibility, self-actualization, geographic location, and continuity of coworker relationships. Findings revealed variation for these underlying factors among career categories. Variation among pharmacist career types exists. The profiles constructed in this study describe the characteristics of various career paths and can be helpful for decisions regarding educational, experiential, residency, and certification training in pharmacist careers.

Factors Influencing Retention of Male Athletic Trainers in the NCAA Division I Setting

Context:Social support, autonomy, and job satisfaction are among the factors influencing female athletic trainers' decisions to remain in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I (NCAA D-I) setting, but the male perspective has not been documented.Objective:Identify factors that affect male athletic trainers' decisions to remain in the NCAA D-I setting.Design:Qualitative study. Participants: 11 male athletictrainers who averaged 6 ± 6 years of NCAA D-I clinical experience, 66 ± 10 working hours per week during the traditional sport season, and 34 ± 5 years of age.Data collection and analysis:In-depth, semistructured interviews. Two researchers followed the steps of a grounded theory study and analyzed data independently.Results:Two main persistence themes emerged from the data: (1) D-I atmosphere and (2) workplace environment.Conclusions:Our findings suggest that male athletic trainers remain in the NCAA D-I setting because of satisfaction with their employment, which includes a competitive atmosphere, strong coworker relationships, and support from their supervisors.

An investigation of coworker relationships and psychological collectivism on employee propensity to take charge

This study examines how coworker interactions and psychological collectivism impact an employee's likelihood of engaging in taking charge behavior. Work group contextual factors examined include team–member exchange (TMX), coworker support and psychological collectivism. Results show that TMX and psychological collectivism were significantly related to an individual's propensity to engage in taking charge behavior. This study highlights the importance that one's interactions with coworkers can have on an employee's willingness to engage in taking charge behavior, contributing an important new perspective to the literature on the contextual antecedents that drive an individual's behavioral efforts to bring about innovation and change. Implications for research and practitioners are discussed.

Knowledge sharing behaviors of industrial salespeople

Purpose – This paper extends the sales literature by moving beyond salespeople ' s role as knowledge gatherers to their role as knowledge sharers with personnel outside the sales unit. The aim is to develop and test a conceptual model to establish how pay-for-performance (economic factor) affects knowledge sharing behaviour under the contingency roles of coworker relationship quality (social psychological factor) and knowledge sharing norms (sociological factor). Design/methodology/approach – Using the Dun & Bradstreet database, the authors collected responses from 374 salespeople in 51 Canadian industrial firms through an on-line survey. The authors used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) as multiple salespeople were nested within the organization and the data were comprised of individual- and organizational-level constructs. Findings – When there is misalignment between rewards and knowledge sharing behavior, motivational loss hampers knowledge sharing. However, when employees are provided with an environment that fosters high coworker relationship quality and consensual knowledge sharing norms, the motivational loss resulting from the incongruence between pay-for-performance and knowledge sharing behavior is mitigated. Research limitations/implications – Implications regarding how salespeople ' s knowledge sharing contributes to relationship marketing along with practical ramifications for how sales managers can encourage knowledge sharing are discussed. Originality/value – This study contributes to the sales literature (e.g. control, key account management, expanding role of sales) by testing a model that integrates different theoretical perspectives to examine what types of control mechanisms and which combinations of these controls affect salespeople ' s engagement in knowledge sharing behaviors.

The Equity Perception Scale – Intellectual Disability Services (EPS-IDS): Evaluating the reliability and validity of a new measure

Background The aim of this paper was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Equity Perception Scale – Intellectual Disability Services (EPS-IDS), a detailed measure of staff equity perceptions in services for people with intellectual disability (ID). The EPS-IDS contains 3 relationship indices that assess staff relationships with their employing organisation, their co-workers, and service users.Method Postal questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data from a purposive sample of ID service staff.Results The EPS-IDS was found to have good internal consistency reliability. The overall test–retest reliability of the measure, however, was found to be less satisfactory. With the exception of the co-worker relationship index, the EPS-IDS indices were found to have promising validity.Conclusions The findings from the study suggest that the EPS-IDS shows some promise as a measure of the equity perceptions of ID service staff. Further refinements to the relationship indices, however, may be required.

A Comparison of Burnout Among Oncology Nurses Working in Adult and Pediatric Inpatient and Outpatient Settings

To investigate differences in burnout among oncology nurses by type of work setting, coping strategies, and job satisfaction. Descriptive. A metropolitan cancer center. A convenience sample of 74 oncology nurses. Participants completed a demographic data form, the Nursing Satisfaction and Retention Survey, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Burnout, coping strategies, job satisfaction, and oncology work setting (inpatient versus outpatient and adult versus pediatric). The participants most often used spirituality and coworker support to cope. Emotional exhaustion was lowest for youngest nurses and highest for outpatient RNs. Personal accomplishment was highest in adult settings. Job satisfaction correlated inversely with emotional exhaustion and the desire to leave oncology nursing. The findings support that the social context within the work environment may impact emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and that demographics may be more significant in determining burnout than setting. The findings raise questions of whether demographics or setting plays a bigger role in burnout and supports organizational strategies that enhance coworker camaraderie, encourage nurses to discuss high-stress situations, and share ways to manage their emotions in oncology settings. Spirituality and coworker relationships were positive coping strategies among oncology nurses to prevent emotional exhaustion. Nurses who rely on supportive social networks as a coping mechanism have lower levels of depersonalization. Age was inversely related to emotional exhaustion.

What Trust Matters When

While trusting coworker relationships are conducive to knowledge transfer, distinct types of trust and the contextual conditions under which they are most effective have received limited empirical attention. In this article, we distinguish between professional and personal trust, and hypothesize that their relative knowledge transfer advantage may vary as a function of the duration of the receiver-source relationship. Using survey data from 135 knowledge receivers reporting on their relationships with their knowledge sources, we find that both professional and personal trust interact with relationship duration, albeit in opposite directions. We also find a synergistic effect of the two types of trust on knowledge transfer but only in long duration relationships. The implications of distinguishing professional and personal trust within the overall nomological network of trust are discussed in terms of theory and practice development.

Socialization tactics: Antecedents for goal interdependence and newcomer adjustment and retention

This study argues that Deutsch's theory of goal interdependence is useful to examine the dynamics of serial and investiture tactics on newcomer adjustment and retention in work team contexts. Structural equation results of interviews of specific incidents collected from one hundred and two newcomers support the hypothesized model that serial and investiture tactics used by teams promote cooperative goal interdependence and weaken competitive goal interdependence and independent goal relationship between newcomers and their teams. Cooperative goals were also found to promote positive attitudes and strong co-worker relationships whereas competitive and independent goals resulted in intentions to quit and low levels of organizational commitment and job satisfaction.

Do interpersonal relationships still matter for turnover intention? A comparison of South Korea and China

This study investigated the effects of supervisor and co-worker relationships on the turnover intentions of workers in Korea and China. A U-shaped relationship between supervisor relationships (i.e. leader–member exchange) and turnover intention reported in the studies using western samples has not been replicated in the Asian samples of this study. Instead, each of supervisor and co-worker relationship had a negative and linear association with turnover intentions in China. On the other hand, co-worker relationships had a negative linear relationship with turnover intentions while supervisor relationship did not relate to worker's turnover intention in Korea. The comparison between Korea and China showed that the supervisor and co-worker relationships had stronger influence on turnover intentions in China than in Korea. Discussions and implications concerning the Korean HRM in the global context are offered.

Positive psychology at work: A conceptual review, state-of-practice assessment, and a look ahead

Positive psychological principles have become increasingly prevalent in the workplace in recent years. However, the field still lacks a comprehensive and practice-based overview of this important trend. The present article focuses on reviewing recent research in positive psychology as it relates to the workplace, including research regarding constructs such as resilience, appreciative inquiry, empowerment, gratitude, psychological capital, work engagement, supervisor and organizational support, positive teamwork and co-worker relations, and positive leadership. For each, we synthesize research examining the nature of the construct itself, its nomological network, individual- and organizational-level outcomes, and how organizations can enhance each within their employees for increased organizational success and enhanced employee experience. Finally, we discuss gaps in the relevant literature and make specific recommendations regarding how to ameliorate such oversights in order to enhance the rigor of positive workplace research as well as the frequency and efficacy of relevant organizational interventions.

Sources of Coworker Relationships: Social Relations Modeling of Relational Models

Relationships between coworkers are receiving increasing attention in organizational behavior research as drivers of a variety of important organizational phenomena, from motivation, leadership, and team dynamics, to turnover, helping, and performance. However, to date, the conceptualizations of relationships in management scholarship remain largely simplistic (e.g. tie/no tie, high/low quality). Here, we build on insights from Fiske’s Relational Models Theory (1992), which suggests that there are four fundamental relationship types and consider how different kinds of relationships emerge between coworkers. Specifically, we hypothesize three key sources of variance in relationships between coworkers: the general tendencies of individuals to perceive certain kinds of relationships (perceiver effects), the general tendencies of individuals to provoke certain relationship types from others (partner effects), and perceptions of relationship type that are specific to a particular coworker relationship, absent ...

The Effect of Coworkers’ Task-related Help Seeking and Their Characteristics on Knowledge Sharing in Coworker Relationship

The Effect of Coworkers’ Task-related Help Seeking and Their Characteristics on Knowledge Sharing in Coworker Relationship

Beyond leadership: The impact of coworker relationships on employee motivation and intent to stay

AbstractRelationships between coworkers are an important, yet understudied, source of influence in people's lives. While psychological research widely supports the significance of peer relationships, too few studies have specifically examined the impact of relationships between coworkers. The present study was designed to add to the small but growing body of research on coworker relations. Drawing from a large sample of service-sector employees, we tested and found support for the hypotheses that positive coworker relationships independently increase employee motivation and intent to stay above and beyond two sources of supervisor support – immediate supervisors and senior managers. We also examined how employee job status moderates these relationships, finding that the impact of coworker relations on intent to stay was stronger for employees in high-status positions. Job status was not shown to moderate the relationship between coworker relations and motivation, with employees at both low- and high-status levels reporting higher motivation when coworker relationships were good.

Beyond leadership: The impact of coworker relationships on employee motivation and intent to stay

AbstractRelationships between coworkers are an important, yet understudied, source of influence in people's lives. While psychological research widely supports the significance of peer relationships, too few studies have specifically examined the impact of relationships between coworkers. The present study was designed to add to the small but growing body of research on coworker relations. Drawing from a large sample of service-sector employees, we tested and found support for the hypotheses that positive coworker relationships independently increase employee motivation and intent to stay above and beyond two sources of supervisor support – immediate supervisors and senior managers. We also examined how employee job status moderates these relationships, finding that the impact of coworker relations on intent to stay was stronger for employees in high-status positions. Job status was not shown to moderate the relationship between coworker relations and motivation, with employees at both low- and high-status levels reporting higher motivation when coworker relationships were good.

Beyond leadership: The impact of coworker relationships on employee motivation and intent to stay

Beyond leadership: The impact of coworker relationships on employee motivation and intent to stay