Workplace Romance Research Articles

Straight from the heart and “out of mind”: strategies for managers to navigate workplace romance

Purpose Workplace romance presents both opportunities and challenges for organizations, requiring strategic HR leadership to navigate effectively. This study explores the dynamics of workplace romance, its impact on organizational culture and performance, and strategic HR approaches to manage this complex phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach Information and data from various research blogs and websites have been studied to understand the concept of workplace romance and insights drawn by proposing a few practices for HR leaders. Findings This practitioner paper indicates a positive relationship and develops insights into how HR leaders’ good strategic practices help manage and mitigate workplace romance challenges. Practical implications HR leaders can foster a positive work environment while minimizing the risks associated with workplace relationships by developing clear policies, providing training and education, promoting transparency and fairness, implementing conflict resolution mechanisms and monitoring enforcement. Originality/value This paper explores the dynamics of workplace romance and its impact on organizational culture and performance. It also provides fresh insights into strategic HR approaches to managing this complex phenomenon in the workplace.

Workplace Romance: A Research on Flight Attendants in Aviation Industry

The aim of this research is to examine different aspects of workplace romance experienced by flight attendants in the aviation industry. Qualitative research method was used to examine the research subject in depth. The research was guided by using the phenomenology design, which is one of the qualitative research designs. The sample of the research was determined according to purposeful sampling and saturation point methods. In this context, the sample of the research consists of 11 flight attendants working in different airline companies in Turkey. Online interview method was used as a data collection tool. The data obtained was subjected to content analysis using MAXQDA 24 qualitative data analysis program with an inductive and descriptive approach. As a result of the content analysis, the research findings were collected under five themes. These themes include: factors affecting workplace romance, factors obstructing workplace romance, types of romantic relationships at workplace, results of workplace romance and management of workplace romance. According to the findings, the reasons why male and female employees have romantic relationships at work differ; It has been observed that different romantic relationships emerge depending on the position of the partners and the reasons for the relationship, and that workplace romance have positive and negative results individually/organizationally. It is thought that the research results will contribute to the literature on the concept of workplace romance and organizational behavior in the aviation industry.

Love Affair at Workplace: How Motif and Type Linked to Employee Work Behaviour in Male Employee Experience

Men tends to act more positively than female when it comes to romance in the workplace (Pierce et al., 1996; Powell, 1986). This research presents an exploratory assessment of workplace affairs using a qualitative approach to identify how motives and types of workplace affairs, linked on how it affect employee work behavior from a male employee experience. Social exchange theory and power dynamics approached are used to explain this phenomenon. Respondents were collected using purposive and snowball sampling methods due to the sensitive nature of the respondent criteria. The semi-structured, one-on-one in-depth interview was done to nine male employees who had and/or are engaging in workplace affair. Finding reveals motives and types of workplace affair linked to each other especially ego/fling motive with hierarchical type of relationship. Workplace affair does affect work behavior in vary ways. Additionally, male employee experienced negative effect despite them being superior or subordinate. A negative effect mentioned such as favoritism, power abused even workplace bullying. This study emphasizes more of workplace affair as the dark side of workplace romance thus enriched the findings of previous study regarding workplace affair in Indonesia especially from male employee experience.

What We Do in the Shadows: Workplace Romance Nondisclosure and Employee Well-being

What We Do in the Shadows: Workplace Romance Nondisclosure and Employee Well-being

Workplace romance – ready or not? Complex antecedent conditions supporting (discouraging) concupiscence

PurposeThis study applies complexity theory to propose and empirically examine asymmetric case conditions of antecedents and outcome models of high (low) willingness-to-engage in workplace romance (WEWR). This study focuses on constructing complex antecedent conditions that accurately indicate which employees, and under what conditions, employees are high in WEWR.Design/methodology/approachUsing an experimental design, 162 employees were assigned one of nine hypothetical vignettes describing different workplace romance contexts including three discrete policies regarding workplace romances (i.e. strictly forbidden, moderate, vs no policy), two motivations for the workplace romance (i.e. job vs love), and two organizational positions of the romance (i.e. hierarchical vs lateral). Participants then reported WEWR responses. Participants also provided demographic, behavioral, and psychological work-related information. This study assesses and supports recipes (i.e. algorithms) of case and organizational structure conditions to identify cases high (low) in WEWR accurately and consistently.FindingsThe results provide clarity of which and when employees are willing vs unwilling to engage in workplace romances – and the contextualized impacts of organizational bans on WEWR. The study’s results are useful for estimating for whom specific workplace policies are effective or not by specific workplace contexts.Practical implicationsIn highlighting the role of varying antecedent conditions in predicting WEWR, this research will assist organizations and practitioners in understanding the context in which workplace romances are more likely to occur, providing insight as to when employees are likely to comply with workplace romance policies.Originality/valueThis paper is the first in the workplace romance literature to examine unique combinations of antecedent conditions on WEWR, adding nuance to the current understanding of the behavior.

Something to Talk About! Testing the Antecedents and Consequences of Workplace Romance in Indian Hotel industry

The present study attempts to understand and establish the interplay between workplace romance and workplace gossip through the lens o McClelland’s theory of need in the context of the Indian hospitality industry. The data were collected from 216 hotel employees using a time-lagged design. PLS-SEM was used to test the hypothesized associations. The results indicated a positive association between workplace romance and workplace gossip. The study discusses several motives for people to engage in romance, resulting in increased gossip. Workplace romance emerged as a significant mediator between the antecedents (love, loneliness, career growth, organizational politics) and the consequence (workplace gossip). There is a dearth of studies empirically studying the linkages and antecedents of workplace gossip and workplace romance, especially in the context of the Indian hospitality sector. The present study attempts to address this gap by understanding the hypothesized associations.

Workplace romance policies, behaviors, and reputational beliefs: experiences of employees from major US cities

ABSTRACT The present study examined employees’ knowledge of their organization’s workplace romance policy and its relationship with their workplace romance experiences and beliefs. It also investigated differences in employees’ beliefs about workplace romance’s reputational effects based on their workplace romance experiences. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of self-reported responses obtained from a sample of 642 adults working across industries in major US cities yielded several meaningful findings. Namely, employees in organizations with (versus without) a workplace romance policy were more likely to have participated in and observed a workplace romance, were more comfortable with future workplace romance participation, and were more likely to believe workplace romances were common and affected professional reputations. Employees with (versus without) workplace romance experience were also more likely to report positive reputational effects of hierarchical workplace romances for both male and female executives. Based on reported findings, we offer evidence-based recommendations for policy development.

Aşk ile İşi Karıştırmak: Çalışanların İşyeri Romantizmine İlişkin Algıları İşe Yönelik Tutumlarını Etkiler mi?

The study focuses on workplace romance in organizations and the consequences of workplace romance as perceived by employees. The purpose of the study is to determine the impact of workplace romance on employees' job satisfaction, job involvement and job performance. The data used in the study were obtained through a questionnaire from 581 employees working in different organizations in Jordan. The effect of workplace romance on job satisfaction, job involvement and job performance was evaluated using multiple regression analyses. As a result of the study, it was found that employees’ positive perception of workplace romance has a positive effect on both job satisfaction, job involvement and job performance.

What’s love got to do with it? How does workplace romance provoke workplace ostracism and interpersonal conflict

PurposeExtant research on workplace ostracism has investigated a victimization perspective to understand ostracism at the cost of examining the perpetrator-centric view of ostracism. This study aims to draw on the self-categorization theory and the social exchange theory to investigate the harmful effects of workplace romance in cultivating workplace ostracism from the perspective of perpetrator to combat concerns for victim blaming. This study further proposes that workplace ostracism triggered by workplace romance provokes interpersonal conflict. Besides, this study investigates the moderating role of prosocial behavior in the underlying linkages.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a multisource, time-lagged research design to collect data from employees working in the service sector organizations in Pakistan. This study analyzes 367 responses using SmartPLS (v 4.0).FindingsThe findings of this study reveal that workplace romance elicits workplace ostracism, which, in turn, fosters interpersonal conflict among coworkers. In addition, this study finds that ingroup prosocial behavior strengthens the associations between workplace romance and workplace ostracism, and workplace romance and interpersonal conflict, mediated by workplace ostracism such that the associations are more potent at higher levels of ingroup prosocial behavior and vice versa.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that examines workplace romance as the perpetrator-centric antecedent of workplace ostracism, and ingroup prosocial behavior in exaggerating the outgroup ostracism and interpersonal conflict.

Intimate but not intimate: The perils of workplace romance in fostering knowledge sabotage.

Extant research on workplace ostracism has investigated a victimization perspective to understand ostracism at the cost of examining the perpetrator-centric view of ostracism. The current study draws on the self-categorization theory and the social exchange theory to investigate the harmful effects of workplace romance in cultivating workplace ostracism from the perpetrator's perspective to combat concerns for victim blaming. The study further proposes that workplace ostracism triggered by workplace romance provokes knowledge sabotage. Besides, the study investigates the moderating role of parochial altruism in the underlying linkages. The study utilizes a multisource, time-lagged research design to collect data from employees working in service sector organizations in Pakistan. The study analyzes 343 responses using SmartPLS (v 4.0). The findings of this study reveal that workplace romance elicits workplace ostracism, which, in turn, fosters knowledge sabotage. In addition, the study finds that parochial altruism strengthens the associations between (a) workplace romance and workplace ostracism and (b) workplace romance and knowledge sabotage, mediated by workplace ostracism such that the associations are more potent at higher levels of parochial altruism and vice versa. This is the first study that examines workplace romance as the perpetrator-centric antecedent of workplace ostracism, and parochial altruism exaggerates outgroup ostracism and knowledge sabotage.

Workplace Romance: Examining Romance Motives and Organization Policies in Indonesia

The research aimed to predict a person’s intention to have a romantic relationship at work, seen from the motives (love and work) and types of policies (strict, warning, no policy) that existed in the company. Romance in the workplace was a common phenomenon in organizations, but this behavior was still considered sensitive to be investigated in Indonesia. In total, 268 Indonesian employees aged 20-40 years who worked at least six months in a company participated in the 2x3 factorial experimental vignette method, and for data analysis, it used repeated measured ANOVA. The research results have found that several types of company policies determine a person’s intention to have romance at work. The stricter the rules and the heavier the punishment, the less likely a person will engage in romance at work. However, on the motive, it is found that there is no difference between the types of motives and one’s intentions in a workplace romance. Finally, the interaction between motives and policies is not significant enough to predict a person’s intention to engage in romance at work. Therefore, it can be concluded that in Indonesia, the implementation of policies still has an essential role in reducing the negative impact of romance in the workplace. Other variables can still be included for future research to see the factors influencing a person’s intentions in workplace romance.

Effects of founder gender and workplace romance status on recruits’ evaluations of early-stage ventures

ABSTRACT We conduct a mixed-method, multi-study investigation using a role congruity theory framework to examine prospective employees’ attitudes toward working for male- and female-led ventures. Results using data collected from business students, alumni, and executives in India reveal three insights: (1) prospective employees report similar evaluations for male- and female-led ventures under normal circumstances but evaluate female-led ventures more favorably than male-led ventures when the entrepreneur has a hierarchical workplace romance; (2) favorable attitudes toward female-led rather than male-led ventures when the entrepreneur is engaged in a hierarchical workplace romance are motivated by benevolent sexism; and (3) although respondents report a higher inclination to work for ventures without (vs with) a policy prohibiting workplace romance, the decline in willingness to work for an entrepreneur engaged in a workplace romance is higher for female- than male-led ventures. We discuss implications and directions for future research.

Struck by a cupid’s arrow: The conjuring bliss and sinister shades of employee workplace romance

Workplace romance (WR), a terminology used to describe romantic relations between individuals in an organization, represents a phenomenon that has attracted academic attention for decades. However, despite its lure, the sensitive nature of WR has resulted in a limited quantity of empirical investigations, fragmented literary results, and an elusive understanding of how organizations should approach workplace romances. This study performs a systematic assessment of the WR research and uses an integrated approach to identify the antecedents, outcomes, and gaps in the literature to address in future WR research. Based on this conceptual backdrop, a CUPID (considerate, uncharacteristic, pragmatic, informed, and diligence) framework is proposed that may provide guidance for human resource managers grappling with WR.

The effects of female sexually fluid workplace romance on their work and life

PurposeDrawing on scholarships of workplace romance, LGBT at work and sexual fluidity, this present research aims to investigate the effect of female sexually fluid romantic relationships at work on their work and life.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used qualitative approach and interviewed 30 female workers who experienced sexual fluidity at work.FindingsFrom interviews with 30 female employees in Vietnam who experience fluidity in their romance, the authors find out positive and negatives effects on their psychology at work (affective/behavioral/cognitive change and mental health), work outcome (job attitudes and performance/productivity) and relations with coworkers.Originality/valueThis research discovers common and distinct features in the workplace romance of female sexually fluid employees. The research finding supports queer perspective which is exerting more salient impacts on our contemporary society and workplace.

"Don't Get Your Meat Where You Get Your Bread": Beliefs and Advice about Workplace Romance.

This investigation identified contemporary beliefs about workplace romance and compared how those beliefs have changed since 1986. Different kinds of advice about workplace romance, and how that advice was related to extant beliefs, were also evaluated. A nationwide sample (N = 259) of organizational members with a variety of professional experiences responded to an anonymous online survey. Results indicated that there were three fundamental underlying beliefs about workplace romance: workplace romance is valuable, the right to demand privacy about workplace romance, and anti-workplace romance. Different types of advice—encouraging, warning, gender concern, and silence—were related to these existing beliefs. The substantial associations between beliefs and advice provide evidence for an implicit theory of workplace romance. Personal experience with such relationships was strongly related to the belief that workplace romance is valuable and the right to demand privacy about workplace romance. Additionally, personal experience was also associated with providing advice promoting workplace romance and advocating that employees should remain silent about engaging in such relationships. These results are discussed within the theoretical lens of boundary blending between the work sphere and the private sphere of social life.

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

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.

Bringing to Light What’s Been Cast to the Shadows: Marginalized Relationships and Narratives at Work

The management literature is rich with theoretical and empirical insights into the processes and outcomes associated with interpersonal relationships at work. Whereas some workplace relationships and relational experiences have received a great deal of scholarly attention, others have been cast to the shadows. In this presenter symposium, we offer five papers uncovering the processes and consequences associated with taboo, counter-normative, and marginalized relational experiences in the workplace. Specifically, our symposium shines a spotlight on oft-overlooked relationships and relational experiences, including unrequited love in the workplace, workplace romances, relational experiences of Black women executives, and luck’s existence in employees’ relationships and careers. The theoretical and empirical papers included in this symposium offer novel contributions to the workplace relationships literature and its intersections with identity, careers, and gender and diversity, generating fruitful avenues for future research. A model of unrequited love in the workplace Presenter: Nikhil Awasty; Michigan State U. Presenter: Rebecca Mitchell; U. of Colorado Boulder Presenter: Lance Ferris; Michigan State U. Who I am through you: A self categorization model of dynamic romantic commitment at work Presenter: Keith Norman Leavitt; Oregon State U. Presenter: Trevor Watkins; U. of Oklahoma Risky or risqué?: The role of stigmatized identity in workplace romance formation Presenter: Emily Dunham Heaphy; U. of Massachusetts, Amherst Presenter: Emily Poulton; U. of Georgia Peer and CEO perceptions about their expectations for and challenges of senior black women Presenter: Marla Baskerville Watkins; Northeastern U. Presenter: Jamie Jocelyn Ladge; Northeastern U. Presenter: Alexis Nicole Smith; Oklahoma State U. Presenter: Pamela Carlton; Springboard – Partners in Cross Cultural Leadership Toward a theory of luck and inequality in careers Presenter: Erin Marie Reid; McMaster U. Presenter: Lakshmi Ramarajan; Harvard U.

Are You Smitten by a Amor: The Magical Ecstasy and Grey Shades of Employee Workplace Romance

Are You Smitten by a Amor: The Magical Ecstasy and Grey Shades of Employee Workplace Romance

Workplace Romance and Career Reputation Effects across Industries

The purpose of this study was to empirically answer the longstanding question regarding industry differences in reactions to workplace romance. Departing from prior research designs, and employing the largest workplace romance sample to date, close to 1,000 adults in major US cities reported their workplace romance experiences and beliefs through an internet survey. Beliefs about workplace romance’s career reputation effects, workplace romance occurrence, and comfort with workplace romance differed by industry, with Healthcare, Education, Administration, and Other Professional industries appearing to represent the most conservative workplaces, and Finance, Trade, and Sales; STEM; and Blue-Collar and Manual Labor industries the most liberal. Industry also interacted with employee sex, management status, and age to affect workplace romance outcomes. Furthermore, workplace romances were seen as more damaging to women’s than men’s careers. Results suggest that human resources professionals should develop workplace romance policies that match the norms and values of their workplaces. A “one-size-fits-all” policy will be ineffective and, in some industries, may be construed as infringing on privacy. Workplace romance’s effect on career reputations depends on the participant’s industry, management status, age, and gender, underscoring the need for awareness of cultural influences on evaluations of employee sexuality. This study empirically demonstrates, for the first time, that industry is associated with beliefs about workplace romance’s career reputation effects. Findings for Blue-Collar and Manual Labor work, previously overlooked, suggest particularly intriguing connections among masculinity, sexuality, aggression, and reputation effects.

Workplace romance

Tina Chander considers whether coupling up with a colleague is legal