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theses

Small talk--superficial, non-task related communication--comprises up to one-third of adults' conversation, and is a key component of employees' experience in the workplace. Despite its ubiquity, little is known about small talk at work, and scattered research across disciplines suggests it may have either positive or negative outcomes. To examine workplace small talk, I draw on Interaction Ritual Theory to conduct four complementary studies. In Study 1 (n=367), I develop and validate a multidimensional scale to measure workplace small talk (with dimensions varying in the extent to which they are scripted) in samples of undergraduate students, employees of a social services organization, and employees recruited through the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform (MTurk). In Study 2, I analyze open-ended responses from employed adults recruited through MTurk (n=244) to identify motives for why employees engage in small talk. In Study 3, I use latent profile analysis (LPA) to analyze data from employees recruited through MTurk (n=580) to investigate whether various motives for small talk are associated with different small talk profiles, and whether small talk profiles impact employees' ego depletion and interpersonal citizenship behaviors (ICB). In Study 4, I examine whether small talk profiles influence supervisor-rated ICB and task performance in a sample of employees from various small business (n=70). Studies 3 and 4 both demonstrate a positive association between small talk and ICB, suggesting that employees who engage in small talk are more likely to perform extra-role helping behaviors. Study 3 also finds that employees with a high proportion of less scripted small talk are more depleted. Taken together, the results of these studies suggest small talk is a multidimensional phenomenon that can have both positive and negative effects in the workplace.

ETD_9799

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-pjfv-rq80

ETD doctoral

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