Workplace romance is a common and growing phenomenon in organizational settings, representing a relationship between two members of the same organization that involves mutual sexual attraction. In Slovenia no research that examines the presence of workplace romance has been done, so the aim of the master's thesis was to investigate the perceptions of workplace romance, the experiences of Slovenian employees with such relationships, their development over time, the types of relationships, the factors and motives influencing their development and their consequences. We used a combination of quantitative (online survey) and qualitative (semi-structured interview) approaches. The first part of the online survey, completed by 334 working individuals, referred to perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes towards workplace romance, while the second part of the survey, completed by 125 individuals, referred to direct experiences with the studied construct. A semi-structured interview was conducted with eight individuals who have been directly involved in workplace romance. The results show that workplace romance is often present in Slovenian organizational environments. The most common are long-term relationships between colleagues of the same or similar status in the organization who are not involved in any other intimate relationship outside the workplace. Love motives play the largest role in shaping these relationships, and the perceived consequences of intimate relationships between colleagues are most often null or small, ranging from positive and negative to insignificant. Although workplace romance is often a disguised phenomenon, it is generally positively perceived by the surroundings. According to the data known to us, this is one of the first Slovenian studies on the topic of workplace romance. With research we aimed to fill a gap in the professional literature and contribute to a better understanding of such romances by everyone, organizations and employees alike. The findings of the master's thesis represent the basis for further study of workplace romance and the formulation of appropriate policies within working environments.
|