| The workplace is increasingly becoming an important venue for social connection and friendship. Workplace friendships present a unique blurring of public and private life spheres, and the idea of a "work friend" implies integrating the voluntary and non-institutionalized role of friend with the more involuntary and formalized role of coworker. Although the workplace friendship phenomenon has been widely publicized in the popular press and business media, limited academic research has focused specifically on friendships that are developed and maintained in the work environment.; Drawing on research in the areas of interpersonal relationships, friendship, developmental relationships, high-quality connections at work, and social support, this dissertation research explored workplace friendship among a particular professional population, associates working in private practice law firms, and was organized as a two-part study combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies.; Phase one, the qualitative study, used interview data to identify functions that workplace friendships serve and outcomes associated with the existence of workplace friendships. Qualitative findings showed that workplace friendships offer individuals companionship, work assistance, understanding, and emotional support, and are associated with the outcomes of well-being, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and productivity. These qualitative findings were integrated with existing research to develop a conceptual model and hypotheses related to workplace friendship.; Phase two, the quantitative study, used survey data to test this conceptual model and related hypotheses. More specifically, the quantitative study tested relationships among the opportunity for workplace friendship, the functions of companionship, work assistance, understanding, and emotional support, and the outcomes of well-being, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and productivity. Additionally, the quantitative study assessed the impact of role conflict in affecting the relationship between workplace friendship and these outcome variables. Quantitative findings showed that individuals' perceptions of having friendship opportunities in the workplace affected both the functions and outcomes of workplace friendships. In addition, workplace friendship functions were directly associated with individuals' reported attitudinal and behavioral outcomes; however, this relationship was not moderated by respondents' experience of role conflict in their friendship relations. Overall, these findings suggest that workplace friendship plays a significant role in affecting individuals' work experience. |
