Harmful effect of office romance on workplace culture, research reveals

Feeling excluded, ignored, or rejected at work is called workplace ostracism. Jun Qiu of the School of Nanchang, Institute of Technology, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China, and colleagues present a study in PLOS ONE that shows that romantic relationships between employees are associated with perceived discrimination and knowledge sabotage by other coworkers. has been added

Romance in the workplace can affect employees’ work-related attitudes and behaviors, such as performance outcomes and job satisfaction. However, the relationship between workplace romance and workplace discrimination is unclear.

To better understand whether romantic relationships between coworkers may lead them to ostracize others, social science researchers designed a multisource, time-lapse study to collect data from service sector workers in Pakistan.

They administered the questionnaire to participants three times, every eight weeks, ultimately collecting responses from 343 individuals for a response rate of 69 percent.

The surveys asked participants questions about their relationship status and attempted to measure workplace neglect, such as being ignored at work, as well as knowledge leakage, for example, a colleague misrepresenting information or documents. supplies the After collecting the final surveys, the researchers analyzed the data using statistical software.

Researchers found that romantically involved coworkers were associated with feelings of manipulation and sabotage by other employees who may view their relationship unfavorably.

However, future studies are needed to determine the generalizability of the experiment as the participants all worked in the service sector of Pakistan, which may have been confounded by cultural variation.

Additionally, the researchers did not report how many of the 343 individuals were involved in workplace romances. Gender can also play a role in perceived discrimination. Future studies should also consider examining whether perceived incivility increases after workplace relationships end.

According to the authors, “Although workplace romance should be the basis of organizational interventions, a review of the existing literature emphasizes that only a few organizations maintain a workplace romance policy. On the creative spectrum Also of influence. Organizations should conduct interpersonal training, which helps employees understand acceptable versus unacceptable behavior in the workplace.

The authors add: “An intimate relationship in the absence of appropriate HR policies can disrupt an intimate flow of knowledge.”