Sophia Elisabeth Maria Humps

• Humps, Sophia & Junker, Nina M. (2026). Staying silent for your workplace friends? The association between workplace friendship and silence motives and the mediating role of social expectations. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. ISSN 0963-1798. 99. doi: 10.1111/joop.70143. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract Workplace friendships foster open communication, yet can create dilemmas for employees who consider speaking up or remaining silent regarding workplace issues. Adopting a boundary theory lens, this article examines how friendship in work teams and toward specific team members relates to lateral silence motives (i.e., reasons for remaining silent toward someone at the same hierarchical level). This approach acknowledges the multiplexity of workplace friendships, integrating the roles of employee and friend. We propose that blurring these roles relates to silence motives by affecting the social expectations individuals have toward themselves in relation to their team members. We tested our hypotheses in two studies among UK employees working in small teams. Specifically, we examined the relationship between workplace friendship and lateral silence in a two‐wave time‐lagged study (Study 1, N  = 448), and partially replicated these results and tested social expectations as a mediator in a three‐wave time‐lagged study toward individual team members (Study 2, N  = 208). Workplace friendship was negatively associated with acquiescent and opportunistic silence in both studies, but was positively associated with prosocial silence and negatively with quiescent silence in Study 2. Friendship‐related social expectations mediated these associations in Study 2 (except for quiescent silence), indicating that workplace friendships may be a double‐edged sword.

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