Workplace friendship and its impact on employee work attitudes and job satisfaction

Abstract

Purpose: this study has double purposes. Firstly, it is to examine the existence of superior-subordinates friendship, Work Attitudes and Job Satisfaction of sales-people in a retail industry in Lebanon while controlling demographic variables. Secondly, this study also examines the quality of superior-subordinates friendship, Work Attitudes and Job Satisfaction while also controlling the demographic variables. Design/Methodology/Approach: The below study is descriptive-explanatory that shows a general view of the variables while also trying to explain relationships among them. A quantitative approach, using statistical analysis of survey data is used for testing the hypotheses. The sample targeted by the questionnaire is sales people in one of the leading Retail Company for luxury clothing in Lebanon. The number of respondents is 108. The sample is composed of male and female respondents with dissimilar ages, years of experience, education, income… Findings: The results support the existence of a positive effect of superior-subordinates friendship with Work Attitudes and Job Satisfaction. The existence of friendship between supervisors and subordinates is found to have a positive effect on Work Attitudes as well as on Job Satisfaction. Moreover, the quality of relationship between supervisor and subordinates is found to positively influence Work Attitudes and Job Satisfaction. Furthermore, discussion about the hypotheses, control variables and implications along with recommendation for future research are delivered. Originality/Value: This study moves from general exploration of workplace friendship to focus more on Superior-Subordinates friendship impact on Work Attitudes and Job Satisfaction. Moreover, this study elaborates on the quality of friendship. While other researchers have undertaken this topic from a broader standpoint, this convergent study narrows the analysis into a more specific model.