Office Chitchat as a Social Ritual: The Uplifting Yet Distracting Effects of Daily Small Talk at Work

Abstract

Small talk-short, superficial, or trivial communication not core to task completion-is normative and ubiquitous in organizations. Although small talk comprises one-third of adults' speech, its effects at work have been discounted. Integrating theories of interaction rituals and micro-role transitions, we explore how and why seemingly inconsequential conversations during the workday generate meaningful effects on employees' experiences. In a sample of employed adults from a Northeast US University's alumni database and LinkedIn (n = 151), we used an experience sampling method (ESM) to capture within-individual variation in small talk over three weeks. We also conducted a validation of our daily small talk measure with Masters students from a Northeastern US University (n = 73) and two samples of employed adults registered with Amazon Turk (n = 180 and n = 202). Results showed that, on one hand, small talk enhanced employees' daily positive social emotions at work, which translated into heightened organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) and well-being at the end of the workday; on the other hand, small talk disrupted employees' ability to cognitively engage in their work, which compromised their OCB. Our results also showed higher levels of trait-level self-monitoring mitigated the negative effects of small talk on work engagement. Combined, results suggest that the polite, ritualistic, and formulaic nature of small talk is often uplifting yet distracting.

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Interweaving positive and critical perspectives in management learning and teaching

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