Distinctly Lonely: How Loneliness at Work Varies by Status in Organizations (2021)

View/ Open
Type of Content
Journal ArticleISSN
0140-9174Collections
Abstract
Purpose: This paper studies the differing pathways to loneliness in managers and their employees. Literatures on emotions in organizational life, organizational management and leadership, and loneliness are explored to develop and test hypotheses regarding the differential prototypical scripts that can be generative of loneliness in managers and employees. Design/methodology/approach: 28 managers and 235 employees from a horticultural company based in Mexico were surveyed, using measures of perceived connection quality, loneliness and meaningful work to test three hypotheses. Findings: Data from 28 managers and 235 staff indicate that while loneliness scores do not significantly differ between managers and their subordinates, the predictors of loneliness differ between managers and employees, with emotional connection and mutuality predicting loneliness in employees but not in managers. Originality: This paper adds specification to the literatures on workplace loneliness, the loneliness associated with management roles, emotions in organizational life, and emotions and leadership. The findings are discussed in relation to the literature on manager-subordinate relationships
Citation
Wright S, Silard A (2021). Distinctly Lonely: How Loneliness at Work Varies by Status in Organizations. Management Research Review: Communication of emergent international management research.This citation is automatically generated and may be unreliable. Use as a guide only.
Keywords
Loneliness; management; emotional connectionANZSRC Fields of Research
35 - Commerce, management, tourism and services::3505 - Human resources and industrial relations::350507 - Workplace wellbeing and quality of working life35 - Commerce, management, tourism and services::3507 - Strategy, management and organisational behaviour::350710 - Organisational behaviour
35 - Commerce, management, tourism and services::3507 - Strategy, management and organisational behaviour::350707 - Leadership
52 - Psychology::5201 - Applied and developmental psychology::520104 - Industrial and organisational psychology (incl. human factors)
52 - Psychology::5205 - Social and personality psychology::520505 - Social psychology
Rights
All rights reserved unless otherwise statedRelated items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Capitalising on Diversity: Espousal of Māori Values in the Workplace
Kuntz JRC; Beckingsale A; Macfarlane AH; Naswall, K (GSE Research Limited, 2014)This study investigated the relationship between organisational espousal of cultural group values and organisational commitment and citizenship behaviours. The study focused on Ma–ori employees, and their perceptions of ... -
Intentionality and transformative services: Wellbeing co-creation and spill-over effects
Kuppelwieser V; Finsterwalder, Jörg (Elsevier BV, 2020)In recent years, the service discipline has seen the emergence of a number of novel conceptual approaches, one in particular, called Transformative Service Research (TSR) focuses on wellbeing improvement and relieving ... -
Sustainable Leadership in Microfinance: A Pathway for Sustainable Initiatives in Micro and Small Businesses?
Ranabahu, Nadeera; Wickramasinghe, A. (2022)Microfinance is used to enhance micro and small enterprise start-up and growth in developing countries. Although there is some discussion of how microfinance institutional activities lead to their own sustainability in ...