Reference no: EM132830961

Below is the title and abstract of an article published in the Academy of Management Journal, Volume 61, Number 6, April 2018, pages 2343 - 2366. Critically reflect on the abstract and answer the questions that follow:

No Employee an Island: Workplace Loneliness and Job Performance Hakan Ozcelik and Sigal G. Barsade

Abstract

This research investigates the link between workplace loneliness and job performance. Integrating the regulatory loop model of loneliness and the affect theory of social exchange, we develop a model of workplace loneliness. We focus on the central role of affiliation in explaining the loneliness-performance relationship, predicting that despite lonelier employees' desire to connect with others, being lonelier is associated with lower job performance because of a lack of affiliation at work. Through a time-lagged field study of 672 employees and their 114 supervisors in two organizations, we find support that greater workplace loneliness is related to lower job performance; the mediators of this relationship are lonelier employees' lower approachability and lesser affective commitment to their organizations. We also examine the moderating roles of the emotional cultures of companionate love and anger, as well as of the loneliness of other co-workers in the work group. Features of this affective affiliative context moderate some of the relationships between loneliness and the mediating variables; we also find support for the full moderated mediation model. This study highlights the importance of recognizing the pernicious power of workplace loneliness over both lonelier employees and their organizations. We offer implications for future research and practice.

Required:

1. State the research paradigm and research design by extracting a comprehensive set of supporting evidence from the abstract.

2. On the basis of the information provided in the abstract alone, elaborate on the motivation for Ozcelik and Barsade's (2018) study by highlighting the focus of inquiry (i.e. the broad question of interest).

3. Discuss the theoretical framework underpinning Ozcelik and Barsade's (2018) study.

4. Briefly comment on the significant "value-added" contribution of Ozcelik and Barsade's (2018) study to the field of workplace loneliness and suggest TWO practical recommendations from the findings.