Friends With (Workplace) Benefits: Support, Affect, Health, Performance, and Innovation Outcomes

Although much is known about the benefits of friendships, less is known about the specific benefits of workplace friendships. We argue that friendships are a fundamental feature of human social life and therefore cannot be divorced from organizational life. Despite some researchers suggesting that workplace friendships interfere with role requirements, we contend that friendships may make positive contributions to work outcomes. Using Conservation of Resources theory as a guiding framework, we propose that workplace friendships are resources that help with workplace challenges by providing resources for social, task, and emotional support. Across three studies with a combined 1,305 employed individuals, we find that workplace friendships were positively associated with supportive, affective, health, and performance outcomes. We discuss theoretical implications of our findings and offer practical suggestions for increasing the prevalence of friendships in organizations.