The influx of women into the labour force has led to an increase in romance in the workplace. â For instance, available statistics show that women comprise of.
Prohibited or Permitted? Perceived Office Romance Practices in the Ghanaian Banking Sector
By M. A. Gyensare & L. E. Kumedzro University of Education, Winneba O. Anku-Tsede, PhD University of Ghana Business School
4th Social Science Conference 2016 – Gyensare, Anku-Tsede & Kumedzro
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Introduction Byrne and Neuman (1992) opined that: – “Without the opportunity for interaction, there can be no opportunity for attraction” (p. 12).
4th Social Science Conference 2016 – Gyensare, Anku-Tsede & Kumedzro © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
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Introduction • The banking hall may provide the perfect atmosphere for frequent interaction between workers with similar goals and attitudes. – Working closely in close proximity to others fosters interpersonal attraction (Maniero, 1989). – Frequent contact also increases the likelihood that office romantic relationship will form and developed. Office romance is defined as; “Consensual relationship between two employees
of the same company that entails mutual sexual attraction” (Pierce & Aguinis, 2003, p.447)
4th Social Science Conference 2016 – Gyensare, Anku-Tsede & Kumedzro © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
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Problem Statement • The influx of women into the labour force has led to an increase in romance in the workplace. – For instance, available statistics show that women comprise of 46.6% of the labour force (Kaufman & Hotchkiss, 2003). – Not only are more women today working alongside men, but also the average number of hours spent at work has increased since the 1980s (Kaufman & Hotchkiss, 2003).
• Working together for long allows people to get to know each other better, and as familiarity grows, – Office romance may be more likely to occur between peer coworkers, supervisors or even with company clients (RabinMargaloith, 2006). 4th Social Science Conference 2016 – Gyensare, Anku-Tsede & Kumedzro © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
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Problem Statement (Cont’d) • The influx of women into the labour force has led to an increase in romance in the workplace. – For instance, available statistics show that women comprise of 46.6% of the labour force (Kaufman & Hotchkiss, 2003). – Not only are more women today working alongside men, but also the average number of hours spent at work has increased since the 1980s (Kaufman & Hotchkiss, 2003).
• Working together for long allows people to get to know each other better, and as familiarity grows, – Office romance may be more likely to occur between peer coworkers, supervisors or even with company clients (RabinMargaloith, 2006). 4th Social Science Conference 2016 – Gyensare, Anku-Tsede & Kumedzro © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
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Methods Data and Sample • Target population: Employees in all 10 indigenous banks in Ghana. • Accessible population: Employees in 4 indigenous banks who have met Bank of Ghana’s minimum capital requirement (GCB, ADB, NIB & CAL Bank). • Sample size: 375 employees; 352 (94% response rate).
4th Social Science Conference 2016 – Gyensare, Anku-Tsede & Kumedzro © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
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Methods Measures Attitude towards office romance & sexual intimacy A 7-item scale by Powell (1986) was used to measure attitude towards office romance and sexual intimacy. Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree. A sample item is “Sexual relations foster better communication between the two bankers involved in the intimate relationship.”
Participation in current office romance We assessed participation in office romance by asking bankers to indicate whether they were currently involved romantically with (e.g., dating, married to) a co-worker of their present bank (1 = Yes, 0 = No).” 4th Social Science Conference 2016 – Gyensare, Anku-Tsede & Kumedzro © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
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Methods Job satisfaction Job satisfaction was measured with 6-item scale from Tsui et al. (1992). A sample item is “I am satisfied with the nature of the work I perform at my bank.” A 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.
Employee engagement A 9-item ISA engagement scale from Soane et al. (2012) was used to measure employee engagement. Sample items are “I pay a lot of attention to my work” and “I feel energetic in my work as a banker.” A 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.
4th Social Science Conference 2016 – Gyensare, Anku-Tsede & Kumedzro © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
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RQ 1: Type of Office Romance Practice
Hierarchical romance 39%
Lateral
Lateral romance 61%
Hierarchical
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RQ2: Key Motive of Office Romance Practice Motive
𝒇
%
Rank
1. Love motive (sincere love, care & companionship)
117
33.2
3rd
2. Ego motive (fun, excitement & sexual experience)
212
60.2
2nd
3. Job motive (security & opportunity for advancement)
218
61.9
1st
4th Social Science Conference 2016 – Gyensare, Anku-Tsede & Kumedzro © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
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Results Table 1. Means, standard deviations and inter-correlation Variable
Mean
SD
1
2
3
1. Attitude towards office romance and sexual intimacy 2. Participation in office romance
2.63
1.22
(.706)
0.33
0.47
0.15**
--
3. Job satisfaction
3.55
0.83
-0.37*
-0.11†
(.745)
4. Employee engagement
3.52
0.75
0.30†
-0.23*
0.58***
4
(.835)
Note. N = 352; Reliability coefficients are in parenthesis along the diagonal. †p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
4th Social Science Conference 2016 – Gyensare, Anku-Tsede & Kumedzro © 2015 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
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Path Analytic Model
Job Satisfaction
Attitude towards office romance and sexual intimacy
H1 .146(2.768)**
Participation in office romance
Employee engagement
•
Fit Indices: χ2 = 29.08; RMSEA = .07; SRMR = .06; NNFI = .92; CFI = .93; GFI =.95
Note. N = 352; Reported coefficients are standardized estimates with corresponding t-statistics in parenthesis. †p < .10; *p