Workplace romances: examining attitudes experience, conscientiousness, and policies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate whether employee attitudes, prior engagement in workplace romances, conscientiousness, and organizational policies predicted the willingness to engage in workplace romances. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 148 full-time employees completed an online survey measuring antecedents of workplace romances. Participants were also randomly assigned to read vignettes that varied the strictness of organizational workplace romance policies. Then, participants completed measures of their willingness to engage in a workplace romance. Findings – Favorable attitudes about, and prior engagement in, workplace romances were positively related to the willingness to engage in a workplace romance. Prior engagement in workplace romances and conscientiousness were both related to attitudes about workplace romances. Additionally, the interaction between conscientiousness and organizational workplace romance policies significantly predicted the willingness to engage in a workplace romance. Research limitations/implications – The current study used hypothetical scenarios and a convenience sample to collect data, which may affect the study’s external validity. Practical implications – Organizations grappling with the issue of workplace romances should consider how employee characteristics may interact with policies regulating workplace romances. Originality/value – This study is the first to examine the links between both prior engagement in workplace romances and personality variables (i.e. conscientiousness) and their relation to the willingness to engage in workplace romances. In addition, this is the first experimental study to examine the interaction between personality (i.e. conscientiousness) and organizational policy in predicting the willingness to engage workplace romances.