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Previous research has demonstrated that affirming an individual’s self-worth in intrinsic, stable aspects (e.g. personal attributes) enhances their pro-relationship tendencies, as compared to affirming extrinsic aspects of the individual (e.g. performance). This is especially so among people in certain dissatisfying relationships (e.g. romantic relationships). Extending this finding to organizational contexts, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of affirmation type (intrinsic vs extrinsic affirmations) on responses to workplace offenses among employees with high versus low job satisfaction.

Studies 1 (N = 224) and 2 (N = 358) examined the effects of intrinsic versus extrinsic affirmations on responses to hypothetical and real workplace offenses. Furthermore, to compare the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic affirmations to the baseline level, Study 3 (N = 441) added a control condition and examined the effects of affirmation type (intrinsic vs extrinsic vs control) on responses to workplace offenses.

For employees with low (but not high) job satisfaction, (1) intrinsic (vs extrinsic) affirmations promoted more prosocial responses (forgiveness and reconciliation) to workplace offenses; (2) although not as effective as intrinsic affirmations, extrinsic affirmations (vs baseline) also triggered prosocial intentions toward workplace offenses.

First, the study enriches the literature on workplace offenses by focusing on an individual-level factor – self-worth – that can be intervened (e.g. affirming one’s self-worth) by organizations and managers so as to promote prosocial responses to workplace offenses. Second, the study expands the scope of the self-affirmation theory in organizational contexts by examining the effectiveness of intrinsic and extrinsic affirmations in coping with workplace offenses. Third, practically speaking, the study provides a brief intervention (the writing task of describing an intrinsic or extrinsic affirmation experience) that can boost pro-relationships in the workplace.

The present study examines the nexus between workplace relationship conflict, perceived sincere apology, interpersonal forgiveness, trust restoration and future cooperation at work after a trust violation episode has occurred.

The data for the analysis were collected from 226 employees using scenarios and survey methods and quantitative techniques were applied to analyze the data.

The results show that perceived sincerity of apology serves as a mediating variable in the link between workplace relationship conflict and interpersonal forgiveness. Interpersonal forgiveness is found to be positively related to future cooperation at work with the mediating role of trust restoration.

The findings of the study have practical implications for strategy makers, human resource managers and practitioners interested in stimulating future cooperation at work after a trust violation episode has occurred. The study advocates that sincere apology and interpersonal forgiveness serve as an important link to recovering from trust violation damages and cultivating future cooperation at work after a relationship conflict has occurred.

The findings of the present study bring new insights on the role played by sincere apology and interpersonal forgiveness in facilitating trust restoration and future cooperation at work after a relationship conflict episode has occurred.

This paper aims to develop a theoretical model describing how newcomers’ team-member exchange (TMX), team identification and workplace loneliness may be affected by existing team members’ rejections to the newcomers’ interpersonal helping behavior (IHB).

A theoretical analysis was performed.

The authors propose the following propositions. First, higher levels of IHB rejections result in lower levels of TMX and team identification and higher levels of workplace loneliness experienced by a newcomer. Second, a newcomer’s TMX mediates the relationship between IHB rejections and the newcomer’s workplace loneliness and team identification. Finally, a newcomer’s team identification mediates the relationship between IHB rejections and the newcomer’s workplace loneliness.

This theoretical study provides the following managerial implications. First, managers need to proactively implement tactics that help satisfy newcomers’ affiliation needs through the development of strong formal work relationships with existing members. Second, managers are advised to consider the use of tactics that facilitate the development of effective informal relationships between newcomers and existing team members upon the entry of the team. Third, managers need to implement informal social events where newcomers have the opportunity to exhibit their helpful behaviors. Fourth, managers should periodically inform existing team members of some common anxieties and fears of newcomers that are triggered by entering new interpersonal environments. Finally, managers may utilize mentoring programs that help facilitate newcomers’ accurate interpretations of phenomena occurring around them.

This theoretical study is the first study that examines consequences of IHB rejections in organizations.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the cause–effect relationships between workplace friendship and knowledge-sharing behavior, from a static perspective. Furthermore, it investigates the bi-directional relationship between the increase in both workplace friendship and knowledge-sharing behavior over same time periods, and also endeavors to identify whether there is a significant negative lagged effect of the increase in both workplace friendship on knowledge-sharing behavior, and vice versa, across time from a dynamic perspective.

The study conducts a three-wave questionnaire survey to test the research model. A latent change score approach was used to test the direct relationship between changes in workplace friendship and changes in knowledge-sharing behavior.

The findings reveal that knowledge-sharing behavior fosters workplace friendship and workplace friendship promotes the emergence of knowledge-sharing behavior. An increase in workplace friendship promotes an increase in knowledge-sharing behavior over same time periods. However, an increase in workplace friendship will lead to a lagged decrease of knowledge-sharing behavior across time, and vice versa.

The time interval in this study is a little short to capture the full changes in workplace friendship. Some important control factors and mediating mechanisms are not included in the research model.

This study guides managers to focus on various motivators to better strengthen workplace friendship and knowledge-sharing behavior and to consider and effectively respond to the negative side of workplace friendship and knowledge-sharing behavior across time.

This study emphasizes the predictivity of one important interaction patterns, namely, knowledge-sharing behavior on friendship at the workplace, from a static perspective. This study also shows the benefits of an increase in workplace friendship for the development of knowledge-sharing behavior in the same time period. Furthermore, the study presents a counterintuitive finding when taking the lag effect into consideration in exploring the relationship between changes both in workplace friendship and knowledge-sharing behavior, and identifies a negative side of both when viewed over longer periods.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the curvilinear relationship between workplace ostracism (supervisor ostracism and co-worker ostracism) and knowledge hoarding by using the conservation of resources theory. In addition, the paper predicts one possible situational context (political skill) that may influence employees’ reaction to ostracism.

Using a two-wave research design, the authors collected data from 240 samples in a Chinese diversified company. Hierarchical regression models were used to test the hypotheses.

The authors found that the relationship between workplace ostracism (supervisor ostracism and co-worker ostracism) and knowledge hoarding was U-shaped. Moreover, political skill moderated the linkage between workplace ostracism and knowledge hoarding such that the U-shaped association was stronger for people higher, rather than lower, in political skill.

By exploring a curvilinear relationship between ostracism and knowledge hoarding, the study enriches the knowledge hoarding literature by adding a substantive predictor of knowledge hoarding. The findings can also extend the workplace ostracism literature by providing a new conceptual analysis of interpreting the inconsistent findings involving the influence of workplace ostracism. Moreover, identifying political skill as a moderator can gain a better understanding of when and why an ostracized employee’s knowledge hoarding behavior can be less likely.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of enterprise social media (ESM) use on two trust dimensions – affect-based trust (ABT) and cognition-based trust (CBT) – as mediators in the relationship between ESM use and knowledge sharing. In the first stage of the proposed model, the authors also consider transparent communication (TC) and personal blogging with colleagues (PBC) during work and non-work hours as moderators that reshape trust levels and subsequently promote knowledge sharing within the organisation.

The authors collected the data in three waves from employees in China, the world’s largest market for social media. Five companies, including three information technology companies and two software companies, were targeted for data collection. Initially, a total of 403 ESM users were recruited, but the final sample in the final round was reduced to N = 292. The authors used Mplus (v8.5) to calculate direct path coefficients and indirect moderated-mediation effects.

The use of ESM promotes ABT and CBT, thereby improving knowledge sharing. ABT and CBT both fully mediate the effect of ESM use on knowledge sharing. However, the research reveals paradoxical findings regarding moderation. For example, on the one hand, TC negatively moderates the association between ESM use and ABT, thereby reducing knowledge sharing in the workplace. On the other hand, TC strengthens the relationship between the use of ESM and CBT, thereby increasing knowledge sharing. These contradictory findings indicate that TC functions as a double-edged sword; thus, the effective use of ESM in the workplace requires managers’ intervention. Finally, the analysis reveals that the moderating role of PBC strengthens the association between ESM use and both ABT and CBT, thereby increasing knowledge sharing.

While stakeholders have expressed concern regarding the adverse impacts of workplace ESM adoption on employee performance, the authors provide a broad, novel perspective on the potential of ESM use to enhance knowledge sharing via trust (i.e. ABT and CBT). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to offer a comparative view of trust dimensions, such as ABT and CBT, and to discuss how, why and when TC and PBC interactions moderate the relationship of ESM to ABT and CBT and thereby lead to knowledge sharing. These interesting findings guide further research into the role of ESM in the workplace, especially research based on rational choice theory and communication visibility theory, by illuminating the ways in which employees can use ESM to reshape social communication in the workplace and thereby enhance knowledge sharing.

The shift to remote work brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically limited spontaneous workplace interpersonal interactions. For one interpersonal relationship in particular, the work spouse, the sudden physical distance may impact the energy work spouses draw from one another. Drawing on interactional ritual theory, this study aims to investigate the relationship between interaction frequency and organizational outcomes mediated by relational energy amid the pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, working adults who indicated they had a work spouse were recruited via Qualtrics to participate in a two-part online study.

Complete data from 120 participants across both time periods revealed that more frequent interaction between work spouses is associated with increased job satisfaction and affective commitment mediated by relational energy.

This study represents the first empirical examination of individual and organizational outcomes of a unique interpersonal workplace relationship. Additionally, this study enhances our understanding of the impact of relational energy in socially distanced situations between employees in a close, intimate (non-sexual) pair bond.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of social media usage (SMU) and relational energy on employees' workplace spirituality within an organization from a psychological perspective.

This study proposes a research model based on self-determination theory. This research model was tested using a cross-level hierarchical regression analysis. Data were collected from 276 knowledge workers on 39 teams in 37 enterprises in China.

SMU has a significant positive impact on employees' relational energy and workplace spirituality. Relational energy partially mediates the relationships of cognitive usage and social usage of social media with workplace spirituality and fully mediates the relationship between hedonic usage of social media and workplace spirituality. Inclusive leadership positively affects workplace spirituality and acts as a negative cross-level moderating variable on the relationship between hedonic usage and workplace spirituality.

This work suggested that with appropriate SMU implications, enterprises might be able to integrate spirituality into human resource management practices to improve employees' meaningful life experiences within organizations.

The authors’ findings not only help to theoretically clarify the relationship between SMU and workplace spirituality but also enrich the relevant research on SMU in enterprises to improve employees' spiritual life within the organization.

Much research has focused on the negative aspects of disclosing sexual orientation and/or gender identity in the workplace but less has explicitly examined the positive aspects. This lack of research is problematic as this can oversimplify the work lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) people. The current study examines positive intrapersonal, interpersonal and work opportunity experiences associated with coming out in the workplace as LGBTQ.

The current study surveyed 135 working adults who identified as LGBTQ and used a mixed qualitative and quantitative design to examine the relationship between disclosure and various positive workplace experiences.

Results suggest that sexual orientation disclosure at work was related to participants perceiving multiple positive interpersonal as well as work opportunity experiences. Furthermore, results suggest gender identity disclosure was similar to, but not the same as, sexual orientation disclosure in terms of perception of positive experiences.

Previous research on disclosure at work has taken a somewhat narrow and typically quantitative approach. The current study provides more nuance to the phenomenon by broadly examining multiple positive experiences associated with disclosure and studying them qualitatively in order to best understand participants' experiences in their own voices.

Interpersonal stressors are a major source of stress for East Asian workers. It is still a major management issue in hospital management. This study focuses on clarifying the stress response processes of interpersonal stressors. The moderating effects of gratitude and employee assistance programs were considered.

Questionnaires were distributed to hospital workers in a regional hospital in the city; a total of 288 valid and matched surveys were collected.

The results showed interpersonal stressors negatively affected job satisfaction, and interpersonal resources positively affected intention to stay and job satisfaction. In addition, gratitude had a moderating effect on the relationship between interpersonal stressors and emotional burnout, and awareness of employee assistant programs had a moderating effect on the relationship between interpersonal resources and work engagement.

This study seeks to elucidate the working conditions of nurses and may serve as a reference for hospitals in implementing or drafting labor conditions and policies for stress management.