Small talk—trivial communication not core to task completion—is normative and ubiquitous in organizations. Although small talk comprises up to one-third of adults’ speech, its effects in the workplace have been largely discounted. Yet, research has suggested that small talk may have important consequences for employees. Integrating theories of interaction rituals and microrole transitions, we explore how and why seemingly inconsequential workday conversations meaningfully impact employees’ experiences. In a sample of employed adults, we used an experience sampling method to capture within-individual variation in small talk over a three-week period. Given that we are the first to examine small talk as an episodic phenomenon, we also conducted a validation of our daily small talk measure with master’s students and two samples of employed adults. Using multilevel path analysis, results show that small talk enhanced employees’ daily positive social emotions at work, which heightened organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) and enhanced well-being at the end of the workday; furthermore, small talk disrupted employees’ ability to cognitively engage in their work, which compromised their OCB. Additionally, higher levels of trait-level self-monitoring mitigated negative effects of small talk on work engagement. Combined, results suggest that the polite, ritualistic, and formulaic nature of small talk is uplifting yet also distracting.

REFERENCES

Allen, T. D., & Eby, L. T. 2012. The study of interpersonal relationships: An introduction. In L. T. EbyT. D. Allen (Eds.), The effect of employee attitudes, behavior, and well-being: 3–13. New York, NY: Routledge. Google Scholar
Allen, J. A., Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., & Landowski, N. 2014. Linking pre-meeting communication to meeting effectiveness. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 29: 1064–1081. Google Scholar
Allen, N. J., & Meyer, J. P. 1996. Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: An examination of construct validity. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 49: 252–276. Google Scholar
Ashforth, B. E. 2001. Role transitions in organizational life: An identity-based perspective. Mahwah, NJ: Routledge. Google Scholar
Ashforth, B. E., & Fried, Y. 1988. The mindlessness of organizational behaviors. Human Relations, 41: 305–329. Google Scholar
Ashforth, B. E., Kreiner, G. E., & Fugate, M. 2001. All in a day’s work: Boundaries and micro role transitions. Academy of Management Review, 25: 472–491. Google Scholar
Ashforth, B. E., Kreiner, G. E., Fugate, M., & Johnson, S. A. 2001. Micro role transitions. In B. E. Ashforth (Ed.), Role transitions in organizational life: An identity-based perspective: 258–288. Mahwah, NJ: Routledge. Google Scholar
Beal, D. J. 2015. ESM 2.0: State of the art and future potential of experience sampling methods in organizational research. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2: 383–407. Google Scholar
Beal, D. J., & Ghandour, L. 2011. Stability, change, and the stability of change in daily workplace affect. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32: 526–546. Google Scholar
Beal, D. J., & Weiss, H. M. 2003. Methods of ecological momentary assessment in organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 6: 440–464. Google Scholar
Beal, D. J., Weiss, H. M., Barros, E., & MacDermid, S. M. 2005. An episodic process model of affective influences on performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90: 1054–1068. Google Scholar
Beinstein, J. 1975. Small talk as social gesture. Journal of Communication, 25: 147–154. Google Scholar
Bennett, A. A., Bakker, A. B., & Field, J. G. 2018. Recovery from work-related effort: A meta-analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39: 262–275. Google Scholar
Bennett, A. A., Gabriel, A. S., Calderwood, C., Dahling, J. J., & Trougakos, J. P. 2016. Better together? Examining profiles of employee recovery experiences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101: 1635–1654. Google Scholar
Binnewies, C., Sonnentag, S., & Mojza, E. J. 2009. Daily performance at work: Feeling recovered in the morning as a predictor of day-level job performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30: 67–93. Google Scholar
Boiger, M., & Mesquita, B. 2012. The construction of emotion in interactions, relationships, and cultures. Emotion Review, 4: 221–229. Google Scholar
Bolino, M. C., Hsiung, H.-H., Harvey, J., & LePine, J. A. 2015. “Well, I’m tired of tryin’!” Organizational citizenship behavior and citizenship fatigue. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100: 56–74. Google Scholar
Boothby, E. J., Cooney, G., Sandstrom, G. M., & Clark, M. S. 2018. The liking gap in conversations: Do people like us more than we think? Psychological Science, 29: 1742–1756. Google Scholar
Borgatti, S. P., & Foster, P. C. 2003. The network paradigm in organizational research: A review and typology. Journal of Management, 29: 991–1013. Google Scholar
Brass, D. J. 1984. Being in the right place: A structural analysis of individual influence in an organization. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29: 518–539. Google Scholar
Brennan, A., Chugh, J. S., & Kline, T. 2002. Traditional versus open office design: A longitudinal field study. Environment and Behavior, 34: 279–299. Google Scholar
Brotheridge, C. M., & Grandey, A. A. 2002. Emotional labor and burnout: Comparing two perspectives of “people work.”. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 60: 17–39. Google Scholar
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. 1987. Politeness: Some universals in language usage, vol. 4, Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
Bubel, C. 2006. “How are you?” “I’m hot”: An interactive analysis of small talk sequences in British–German telephone sales. In K. BuhrigJ. D. ten Thije (Eds.), Beyond misunderstanding: Linguistic analyses of intercultural communication: 245–259. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing. Google Scholar
Bullis, C., & Bach, B. W. 1991. An explication and test of communication network content and multiplexity as predictors of organizational identification. Western Journal of Communication, 55: 180–197. Google Scholar
Buysse, D. J., Reynolds, C. F., Monk, T. H., Berman, S. R., & Kupfer, D. J. 1989. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: A new instrument for psychiatric practice and research. Psychiatry Research, 28: 193–213. Google Scholar
Carino, M. M. (host). 2019, May 6. Remote offices find creative workarounds as more Americans stay home [Audio podcast]. Marketplace Morning Report, National Public Radio. Retrieved from https://www.marketplace.org/2019/05/06/remote-offices-find-creative-workarounds-more-americans-stay-home/. Google Scholar
Carlson, M., Charlin, V., & Miller, N. 1988. Positive mood and helping behavior: A test of six hypotheses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55: 211–229. Google Scholar
Carpenter, N. C., Berry, C. M., & Houston, L. 2014. A meta‐analytic comparison of self‐reported and other‐reported organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35: 547–574. Google Scholar
Casalegno, F., & McWilliam, I. M. 2004. Communication dynamics in technological mediated learning environments. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 1: 15–33. Google Scholar
Casciaro, T., Gino, F., & Kouchaki, M. 2014. The contaminating effects of building instrumental ties: How networking can make us feel dirty. Administrative Science Quarterly, 59: 705–735. Google Scholar
Chang, C. H., Johnson, R. E., & Yang, L. Q. 2007. Emotional strain and organizational citizenship behaviours: A meta-analysis and review. Work and Stress, 21: 312–332. Google Scholar
Cheepen, C. 1988. The predictability of informal conversation. London, U.K.: Pinter Pub Ltd. Google Scholar
Colquitt, J. A., Sabey, T. B., Rodell, J. R., & Hill, E. 2019. Content validation benchmarks: Evaluation criteria for definitional correspondence and definitional distinctiveness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104: 1243–1265. Google Scholar
Collins, R. 1990. Stratification, emotional energy, and transient emotions. In T. D. Kemper (Ed.), Research agendas in the sociology of emotions: 27–57. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Google Scholar
Collins, R. 1993. Emotional energy as the common denominator of rational action. Rationality and Society, 5: 203–230. Google Scholar
Collins, R. 2004. Interaction ritual chains. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Google Scholar
Collins, R. 2010. The micro-sociology of religion: Religious practices, collective and individual. The Association of Religion Data Archives. Retrieved from http://www.thearda.com/rrh/papers/guidingpapers/Collins.pdf. Google Scholar
Coupland, J. 2000. Small talk. New York, NY: Pearson Education. Google Scholar
Coupland, J. 2003. Small talk: Social functions. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 36: 1–6. Google Scholar
Coupland, J., Coupland, N., & Robinson, J. D. 1992. “How are you”? Negotiating phatic communion. Language in Society, 21: 207–230. Google Scholar
Cross, R., Baker, W., & Parker, A. 2003. What creates energy in organizations? MIT Sloan Management Review, 44: 51–57. Google Scholar
Cross, R., & Parker, A. 2004. Charged up: Creating energy in organizations. Journal of Organizational Excellence, 23: 3–14. Google Scholar
Csikszentmihalyi, M. 1975. Beyond boredom and anxiety. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Google Scholar
Cunha, M. P. E., Cabral-Cardoso, C., & Clegg, S. 2008. Manna from heaven: The exuberance of food as a topic for research in management and organization. Human Relations, 61: 935–963. Google Scholar
Dabbs, J. M., Evans, M. S., Hopper, C. H., & Purvis, J. A. 1980. Self-monitors in conversation: What do they monitor? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39: 278–284. Google Scholar
Dalal, R. S., Lam, H., Weiss, H. M., Welch, E. R., & Hulin, C. L. 2009. A within-person approach to work behavior and performance: Concurrent and lagged citizenship-counterproductivity associations, and dynamic relationships with affect and overall job performance. Academy of Management Journal, 52: 1051–1066.Link , Google Scholar
Day, D. V., & Schleicher, D. J. 2006. Self-monitoring at work: A motive-based perspective. Journal of Personality, 74: 685–714. Google Scholar
Diefendorff, J. M., Gabriel, A. S., Nolan, M. T., & Yang, J. 2019. Emotion regulation in the context of customer mistreatment and felt affect: An event-based profile approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104: 965–983. Google Scholar
Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. 1999. Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125: 276–302. Google Scholar
Djurdjevic, E., Stoverink, A. C., Klotz, A. C., Koopman, J., da Motta Veiga, S. P., Yam, K. C., & Chiang, J. T. J. 2017. Workplace status: The development and validation of a scale. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102: 1124–1147. Google Scholar
Dutton, J. E., Debebe, G., & Wrzesniewski, A. 2016. Being valued and devalued at work: A social valuing perspective. In B. A. Bechky & K. D. Elsbach (Eds.), Qualitative organizational research: Best papers from the Davis Conference on Qualitative Research: 9–51. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Google Scholar
Dutton, J. E., & Heaphy, E. D. 2003. The power of high-quality connections. In J. E. DuttonR. E. QuinnK. S. Cameron (Eds.), Positive organizational scholarship: Foundations of a new discipline: 263–278. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Google Scholar
Eatough, E. M., Chang, C.-H., Miloslavic, S. A., & Johnson, R. E. 2011. Relationships of role stressors with organizational citizenship behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96: 619–632. Google Scholar
Elsbach, K. D., & Hargadon, A. B. 2006. Enhancing creativity through “mindless” work: A framework of workday design. Organization Science, 17: 470–483. Google Scholar
Enders, C. K., & Tofighi, D. 2007. Centering predictor variables in cross-sectional multilevel models: A new look at an old issue. Psychological Methods, 12: 121–138. Google Scholar
Epley, N., & Schroeder, J. 2014. Mistakenly seeking solitude. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General, 143: 1980–1999. Google Scholar
Evans, G. W., & Johnson, D. 2000. Stress and open-office noise. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85: 779–783. Google Scholar
Fang, R., Landis, B., Zhang, Z., Anderson, M. H., Shaw, J. D., & Kilduff, M. 2015. Integrating personality and social networks: A meta-analysis of personality, network position, and work outcomes in organizations. Organization Science, 26: 1243–1260. Google Scholar
Fayard, A., & Weeks, J. 2007. Photocopies and water-coolers: The affordances of informal interaction. Organization Studies, 28: 605–634. Google Scholar
Ferris, D. L., Brown, D. J., Berry, J. W., & Lian, H. 2008. The development and validation of the workplace ostracism scale. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93: 1348–1366. Google Scholar
Firth, R. 1972. Verbal and bodily rituals of greeting and parting. In J. S. La Fontaine (Ed.), The interpretation of ritual: 1–38. New York, NY: Routledge. Google Scholar
Fredrickson, B. L. 2001. The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56: 218–226. Google Scholar
Frijda, N. H. 1993. Moods, emotion episodes, and emotions. In M. LewisJ. M. Haviland (Eds.), Handbook of emotions: 381–403. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Google Scholar
Fuglestad, P. T., & Snyder, M. 2010. Status and the motivational foundations of self-monitoring. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4: 1031–1041. Google Scholar
Gabriel, A. S., Diefendorff, J. M., & Erickson, R. J. 2011. The relations of daily task accomplishment satisfaction with changes in affect: A multilevel study in nurses. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96: 1095–1104. Google Scholar
Gabriel, A. S., Koopman, J., Rosen, C. C., & Johnson, R. E. 2018. Helping others or helping oneself? An episodic examination of the behavioral consequences of helping at work. Personnel Psychology, 71: 85–107. Google Scholar
Gabriel, A. S., Podsakoff, N. P., Beal, D. J., Scott, B. A., Sonnentag, S., & Butts, M. 2019. Experience sampling methods: A discussion of critical trends and considerations for scholarly advancement. Organizational Research Methods, 22: 969–1006. Google Scholar
Gangestad, S. W., & Snyder, M. 2000. Self-monitoring: Appraisal and reappraisal. Psychological Bulletin, 126: 530–555. Google Scholar
Garfinkel, H. 1964. Studies of the routine grounds of everyday activities. Social Problems, 11: 225–250. Google Scholar
George, J. M. 1991. State or trait: Effects of positive mood on prosocial behaviors at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76: 299–307. Google Scholar
Goffman, E. 1955. On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. Psychiatry, 18: 213–231. Google Scholar
Goffman, E. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. Google Scholar
Goffman, E. 1967. Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face interaction. Oxford, U.K.: Aldine. Google Scholar
Goffman, E. 1981. Forms of talk. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. Google Scholar
Grant, A. M. 2007. Relational job design and the motivation to make a prosocial difference. Academy of Management Review, 32: 393–417.Link , Google Scholar
Grant, A. M., & Parker, S. K. 2009. Redesigning work design theories: The rise of relational and proactive perspectives. Academy of Management Annals, 3: 317–375.Link , Google Scholar
Halbesleben, J. R., & Wheeler, A. R. 2011. I owe you one: Coworker reciprocity as a moderator of the day-level exhaustion–performance relationship. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32: 608–626. Google Scholar
Halbesleben, J. R., & Wheeler, A. R. 2015. To invest or not? The role of coworker support and trust in daily reciprocal gain spirals of helping behavior. Journal of Management, 41: 1628–1650. Google Scholar
Hartley, J. 2002. Communication, cultural and media studies: The key concepts (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Google Scholar
Heaphy, E. D., & Dutton, J. E. 2008. Positive social interactions and the human body at work: Linking organizations and physiology. Academy of Management Review, 33: 137–162.Link , Google Scholar
Hill, C. A. 1987. Affiliation motivation: People who need people… but in different ways. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52: 1008–1018. Google Scholar
Hinde, R. A. 1979. Towards understanding relationships. London, U.K.: Academic Press. Google Scholar
Hinkin, T. R. 1995. A review of scale development practices in the study of organizations. Journal of Management, 21: 967–988. Google Scholar
Hinkin, T. R., & Tracey, J. B. 1999. An analysis of variance approach to content validation. Organizational Research Methods, 2: 175–186. Google Scholar
Hofmann, D. A., & Gavin, M. B. 1998. Centering decisions in hierarchical linear models: Implications for research in organizations. Journal of Management, 24: 623–641. Google Scholar
Holmes, J. 2000. Doing collegiality and keeping control at work: Small talk in government departments. In J. Coupland (Ed.), Small talk: 32–61. New York, NY: Routledge. Google Scholar
Holmes, J. 2003. Small talk at work: Potential problems for workers with an intellectual disability. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 36: 65–84. Google Scholar
Huang, K., Yeomans, M., Brooks, A. W., Minson, J., & Gino, F. 2017. It doesn’t hurt to ask: Question-asking increases liking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113: 430–452. Google Scholar
Hudson, R. A. 1980. Sociolinguistics. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
Ibarra, H. 1992. Homophily and differential returns: Sex differences in network structure and access in an advertising firm. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37: 422–447. Google Scholar
Ilies, R., Scott, B. A., & Judge, T. A. 2006. The interactive effects of personal traits and experienced states on intraindividual patterns of citizenship behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 49: 561–575.Link , Google Scholar
Isen, A. M., & Baron, R. A. 1991. Positive affect as a factor in organizational-behavior. Research in Organizational Behavior, 13: 1–53. Google Scholar
Jaworski, A. 2000. Silence and small talk. In J. Coupland (Ed.), Small talk: 110–132. New York, NY: Pearson Education. Google Scholar
Jett, Q. R., & George, J. M. 2003. Work interrupted: A closer look at the role of interruptions in organizational life. Academy of Management Review, 28: 494–507.Link , Google Scholar
Kahn, W. A. 1990. Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33: 692–724.Link , Google Scholar
Keyton, J. 2011. Communication and organizational culture: A key to understanding work experiences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Google Scholar
Keyton, J. 2017. Communication in organizations. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 40: 501–526. Google Scholar
Kilduff, M., & Brass, D. J. 2010. Organizational social network research: Core ideas and key debates. Academy of Management Annals, 4: 317–357.Link , Google Scholar
Kim, S., Park, Y., & Headrick, L. 2018. Daily micro-breaks and job performance: General work engagement as a cross-level moderator. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103: 772–786. Google Scholar
King, J., Spoeneman, T., Stuart, S., & Beukelman, D. 1995. Small talk in adult conversations: Implications for AAC vocabulary selection. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 11: 260–264. Google Scholar
Kitayama, S., Markus, H. R., & Kurokawa, M. 2000. Culture, emotion, and well-being: Good feelings in Japan and the United States. Cognition and Emotion, 14: 93–124. Google Scholar
Kitayama, S., Mesquita, B., & Karasawa, M. 2006. Cultural affordances and emotional experience: Socially engaging and disengaging emotions in Japan and the United States. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91: 890–903. Google Scholar
Kline, R. B. 2016. Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (4th ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Google Scholar
Knutson, P., & Ayers, J. 1986. An exploration of the function of small talk in friendship relationships. Journal of the Northwest Communication Association, 14: 4–18. Google Scholar
Koopman, J., Lanaj, K., & Scott, B. A. 2016. Integrating the bright and dark sides of OCB: A daily investigation of the benefits and costs of helping others. Academy of Management Journal, 59: 414–435.Link , Google Scholar
Korchmaros, J. D., & Kenny, D. A. 2001. Emotional closeness as a mediator of the effect of genetic relatedness on altruism. Psychological Science, 12: 262–265. Google Scholar
Kurland, N. B., & Pelled, L. H. 2000. Passing the word: Toward a model of gossip and power in the workplace. Academy of Management Review, 25: 428–438.Link , Google Scholar
Ladegaard, H. J. 2011. Negotiation style, speech accommodation, and small talk in Sino-Western business negotiations: A Hong Kong case study. Intercultural Pragmatics, 8: 197–226. Google Scholar
Lanaj, K., Johnson, R. E., & Barnes, C. M. 2014. Beginning the workday yet already depleted? Consequences of late-night smartphone use and sleep. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 124: 11–23. Google Scholar
Lanaj, K., Johnson, R. E., & Lee, S. M. 2016. Benefits of transformational behaviors for leaders: A daily investigation of leader behaviors and need fulfillment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101: 237–252. Google Scholar
Lazarus, R. S. 1991. Emotion and adaptation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar
Lin, B. C., Kain, J. M., & Fritz, C. 2013. Don’t interrupt me! An examination of the relationship between intrusions at work and employee strain. International Journal of Stress Management, 20: 77–94. Google Scholar
Lockwood, C., Giorgi, S., & Glynn, M. A. 2019. “How to do things with words”: Mechanisms bridging language and action in management research. Journal of Management, 45: 7–34. Google Scholar
Loewenstein, J., Ocasio, W., & Jones, C. 2012. Vocabularies and vocabulary structure: A new approach linking categories, practices, and institutions. Academy of Management Annals, 6: 41–86.Link , Google Scholar
Mak, B. C. N., & Chui, H. L. 2013. A cultural approach to small talk: A double-edged sword of sociocultural reality during socialization into the workplace. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 8: 118–134. Google Scholar
Malinowski, B. 1999. On phatic communion. In A. JaworskiN. Coupland (Eds.), The discourse reader: 302–305. London, U.K.: Routledge. Google Scholar
Malinowski, B. 1972. Phatic communion. Communication in face-to-face interaction. Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin Books. (Original work published in 1923.) Google Scholar
May, D. R., Gilson, R. L., & Harter, L. M. 2004. The psychological conditions of meaningfulness, safety and availability and the engagement of the human spirit at work. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77: 11–37. Google Scholar
Mehra, A., Kilduff, M., & Brass, D. J. 2001. The social networks of high and low self-monitors: Implications for workplace performance. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46: 121–146. Google Scholar
Methot, J. R., LePine, J. A., Podsakoff, N. P., & Christian, J. S. 2016. Are workplace friendships a mixed blessing? Exploring tradeoffs of multiplex relationships and their associations with job performance. Personnel Psychology, 69: 311–355. Google Scholar
Methot, J. R., Melwani, S., & Rothman, N. B. 2017. The space between us: A social-functional emotions view of ambivalent and indifferent workplace relationships. Journal of Management, 43: 1789–1819. Google Scholar
Methot, J. R., Rosado-Solomon, E. H., & Allen, D. G. 2018. Network architecture of human capital: A relational identity perspective. Academy of Management Review, 43: 723–748.Link , Google Scholar
Meyer, E. 2014 May, 30. One reason cross-cultural small talk is so tricky. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/05/one-reason-cross-cultural-small-talk-is-so-tricky. Google Scholar
Minkel, J. D., Banks, S., Htaik, O., Moreta, M. C., Jones, C. W., McGlinchey, E. L., Simpson, N. S., & Dinges, D. F. 2012. Sleep deprivation and stressors: Evidence for elevated negative affect in response to mild stressors when sleep deprived. Emotion, 12: 1015–1020. Google Scholar
Mirivel, J. C., & Tracy, K. 2005. Premeeting talk: An organizationally crucial form of talk. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 38: 1–34. Google Scholar
Mischel, W. 1977. The interaction of person and situation. In D. MagnussonN. S. Endler (Eds.), Personality at the crossroads: Current issues in interactional psychology: 333–352. New York, NY: Halsted Press. Google Scholar
Molinsky, A. L. 2013, February, 27. The big challenge of American small talk. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/02/the-big-challenge-with-america. Google Scholar
Monge, P. R., & Contractor, N. S. 2003. Theories of communication networks. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar
Moutoux, D., & Porte, M. 1980. Small talk in industry. Journal of Business Communication, 17: 3–11. Google Scholar
Mullany, L. 2006. “Girls on tour”: Politeness, small talk, and gender in managerial business meetings. Journal of Politeness Research, 2: 55–77. Google Scholar
Muraven, M., & Baumeister, R. F. 2000. Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: Does self-control resemble a muscle? Psychological Bulletin, 126: 247–259. Google Scholar
Murthy, V. 2017. Work and the loneliness epidemic: Reducing isolation at work is good business. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/cover-story/2017/09/work-and-the-loneliness-epidemic. Google Scholar
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. 1998–2017. Mplus user’s guide. (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén. Google Scholar
O’Conner, S. 2017, Sept 22. Driven to despair—the hidden costs of the gig economy. Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/749cb87e-6ca8-11e7-b9c7-15af748b60d0. Google Scholar
Ohly, S., Sonnentag, S., Niessen, C., & Zapf, D. 2010. Diary studies in organizational research. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 9: 79–93. Google Scholar
Organ, D. W. 1988. Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books. Google Scholar
Owens, B., Baker, W., Sumpter, D. M., & Cameron, K. 2016. Relational energy at work: Implications for job engagement and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101: 35–49. Google Scholar
Ozcelik, H., & Barsade, S. G. 2018. No employee an island: Workplace loneliness and job performance. Academy of Management Journal, 61: 2343–2366.Link , Google Scholar
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J., & Podsakoff, N. P. 2003. Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88: 879–903. Google Scholar
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. 2008. Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40: 879–891. Google Scholar
Preacher, K. J., Zyphur, M. J., & Zhang, Z. 2010. A general multilevel SEM framework for assessing multilevel mediation. Psychological Methods, 15: 209–233. Google Scholar
Pullin, P. 2010. Small talk, rapport, and international communicative competence: Lessons to learn from BELF. Journal of Business Communication, 47: 455–476. Google Scholar
Putnam, L. L., & Mumby, D. K. 2014. The SAGE handbook of organizational communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Google Scholar
Quinn, R. W., & Dutton, J. E. 2005. Coordination as energy-in-conversation. Academy of Management Review, 30: 36–57.Link , Google Scholar
Rich, B. L., LePine, J. A., & Crawford, E. R. 2010. Job engagement: Antecedents and effects on job performance. Academy of Management Journal, 53: 617–635.Link , Google Scholar
Robinson, S. L., O’Reilly, J., & Wang, W. 2013. Invisible at work: An integrated model of workplace ostracism. Journal of Management, 39: 203–231. Google Scholar
Rockmann, K. W., & Pratt, M. G. 2015. Contagious offsite work and the lonely office: The unintended consequences of distributed work. Academy of Management Discoveries, 1: 150–164.Link , Google Scholar
Rosen, C. C., Koopman, J., Gabriel, A. S., & Johnson, R. E. 2016. Who strikes back? A daily investigation of when and why incivility begets incivility. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101: 1620–1634. Google Scholar
Rothenbuhler, E. W. 1998. Ritual communication: From everyday conversation to mediated ceremony. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Google Scholar
Rothman, N. B., & Magee, J. C. 2016. Affective expressions in groups and inferences about members’ relational well-being: The effects of socially engaging and disengaging emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 30: 150–166. Google Scholar
Roy, D. F. 1959. “Banana time”: Job satisfaction and informal interaction. Human Organization, 18: 158–168. Google Scholar
Ryan, R. M., Bernstein, J. H., & Brown, K. W. 2010. Weekends, work, and well-being: Psychological need satisfactions and day of the week effects on mood, vitality, and physical symptoms. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29: 95–122. Google Scholar
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. 2008. From ego depletion to vitality: Theory and findings concerning the facilitation of energy available to the self. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2: 702–717. Google Scholar
Sandstrom, G. M., & Dunn, E. W. 2014. Is efficiency overrated?: Minimal social interactions lead to belonging and positive affect. Social Psychological & Personality Science, 5: 437–442. Google Scholar
Sasovova, Z., Mehra, A., Borgatti, S. P., & Schippers, M. C. 2010. Network churn: The effects of self-monitoring personality on brokerage dynamics. Administrative Science Quarterly, 55: 639–670. Google Scholar
Schaufeli, W. B., & Bakker, A. B. 2004. Job demands and job resources and their relationship with burnout and engagement: A multiple-sample study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25: 293–315. Google Scholar
Scheff, T. J. 1979. Catharsis in healing, ritual, and drama. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Google Scholar
Schein, E. H. 1971. The individual, the organization, and the career: A conceptual scheme. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 7: 401–426. Google Scholar
Schneider, B. 1987. The people make the place. Personnel Psychology, 40: 437–453. Google Scholar
Schneider, K. 1987. Topic selection in phatic communication. Multilingua, 6: 247–256. Google Scholar
Schrader, A. W. 1969. Let’s abolish the annual performance review. Human Resource Management, 8: 20–28. Google Scholar
Schriesheim, C. A., Powers, K. J., Scandura, T. A., Gardiner, C. C., & Lankau, M. J. 1993. Improving construct measurement in management research: Comments and a quantitative approach for assessing the theoretical content adequacy of paper-and-pencil survey-type instruments. Journal of Management, 19: 385–417. Google Scholar
Scott, B. A., & Barnes, C. M. 2011. A multilevel field investigation of emotional labor, affect, work withdrawal, and gender. Academy of Management Journal, 54: 116–136.Link , Google Scholar
Scott, B. A., Barnes, C. M., & Wagner, D. T. 2012. Chameleonic or consistent? A multilevel investigation of emotional labor variability and self-monitoring. Academy of Management Journal, 55: 905–926.Link , Google Scholar
Selig, J. P., & Preacher, K. J. 2008. Monte Carlo method for assessing mediation: An interactive tool for creating confidence intervals for indirect effects. [Computer software]. Retrieved from http://quantpsy.org Google Scholar
Shaughnessy, B. A., Mislin, A. A., & Hentschel, T. 2015. Should he chitchat? The benefits of small talk for male versus female negotiators. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 37: 105–117. Google Scholar
Snijders, T., & Bosker, R. 1999. An introduction to basic and advanced multilevel modeling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Google Scholar
Snyder, M. 1987. Public appearances, private realities: The psychology of self-monitoring. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman. Google Scholar
Snyder, M., & Gangestad, S. 1986. On the nature of self-monitoring: Matters of assessment, matters of validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51: 125–139. Google Scholar
Sonnentag, S. 2001. Work, recovery activities and well-being. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 6: 196–210. Google Scholar
Sonnentag, S., Binnewies, C., & Mojza, E. J. 2010. Staying well and engaged when demands are high: The role of psychological detachment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95: 965–976. Google Scholar
Spector, P. E., & Brannick, M. T. 2011. Methodological urban legends: The misuse of statistical control variables. Organizational Research Methods, 14: 287–305. Google Scholar
Trougakos, J. P., Beal, D. J., Green, S. G., & Weiss, H. M. 2008. Making the break count: An episodic examination of recovery activities, emotional experiences, and positive affective displays. Academy of Management Journal, 51: 131–146.Link , Google Scholar
Trougakos, J. P., Hideg, I., Cheng, B. H., & Beal, D. J. 2014. Lunch breaks unpacked: The role of autonomy as a moderator of recovery during lunch. Academy of Management Journal, 57: 405–421.Link , Google Scholar
Turnley, W. H., & Bolino, M. C. 2001. Achieving desired images while avoiding undesired images: Exploring the role of self-monitoring in impression management. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86: 351–360. Google Scholar
Van Gennep, A. 1960. The rites of passage. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar
Van Kleef, G. A. 2009. How emotions regulate social life: The emotions as social information (EASI) model. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18: 184–188. Google Scholar
Van Maanen, J. 1982. Boundary crossings: Major strategies of organizational socialization and their consequences. In R. Katz (Ed.), Career issues in human resource management: 85–115. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Google Scholar
Van Maanen, J., & Kunda, G. 1989. Real feelings. Emotional expression and organizational culture. In L. L. CummingsB. M. Staw (Eds.), Research in organizational behaviour, vol. 11: 43–102. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Google Scholar
Vitukevich, N. 2016. Water cooler talk: Weather, Game of Thrones, football dominate office chatter. Office Pulse. Retrieved from http://officepulse.captivate.com/watercooler-talk-what-professionals-are-discussing-at-the-of. Google Scholar
Walsh, I. J., Halgin, D. S., & Huang, Z. 2018. Making old friends: Understanding the causes and consequences of maintaining former coworker relationships. Academy of Management Discoveries, 4: 410–428.Link , Google Scholar
Wang, M., Liao, H., Zhan, Y., & Shi, J. 2011. Daily customer mistreatment and employee sabotage against customers: Examining emotion and resource perspectives. Academy of Management Journal, 54: 312–334.Link , Google Scholar
Wang, M., Liu, S., Liao, H., Gong, Y., Kammeyer-Mueller, J., & Shi, J. 2013. Can’t get it out of my mind: Employee rumination after customer mistreatment and negative mood in the next morning. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98: 989–1004. Google Scholar
Weick, K. E. 1995. Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Google Scholar
West, S. G., Taylor, A. B., & Wu, W. 2012. Model fit and model selection in structural equation modeling. In R. H. Hoyle (Ed.), Handbook of structural equation modeling: 209–231. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Google Scholar
Zurcher, L. A. 1970. The “friendly” poker game: A study of an ephemeral role. Social Forces, 49: 173–186. Google Scholar

Vol. 64, No. 5

Additional Materials

Permissions

Metrics

in the past 12 months

History

Published online 27 October 2021

Published in print 1 October 2021

Information

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Associate Editor Jessica Rodell and three anonymous reviewers for their guidance and constructive suggestions throughout the review process. We would also like to thank the members of the Positive Relationships at Work Micro-community for providing helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

Download PDF