Workplace loneliness mediates the relationship between perceived organizational support and job performance: Differing by extraversion

Abstract

This study investigated the mediating role of workplace loneliness relating perceived organizational support to job performance, as well as the moderating role of extraversion in such relationship. 332 full-time Chinese employees from various enterprises voluntarily participated in the two-wave surveys via either paper-and-pencil or online survey conducted at Credamo and Tencent Questionnaire website. Hierarchical regression and bootstrapping analyses were employed to examine the hypotheses. Results indicated that workplace loneliness partially mediates the linkage between perceived organizational support and job performance; extraversion serves as a moderator in the relationship between workplace loneliness and job performance, as well as the mediating role of workplace loneliness linking perceived organizational support to job performance, such that the relationship is stronger when extraversion is high. Supplementary analyses revealed that social companionship, but not emotional deprivation, serves as a mediator in the relationship between perceived organizational support and job performance; extraversion enhanced the direct influence of social companionship on job performance, as well as the indirect influence of perceived organizational support on job performance via social companionship. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The relationship between authentic leadership and workplace loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: the mediating role of interactional justice

“…Empirical studies on WL have also pointed to several antecedents to it, such as trust in leaders (Arslan et al , 2020), job autonomy (Wang and Liu, 2020), emotional connection with others at work (Silard and Wright, 2022) and perceived organizational support (Tian et al , 2023). Given the scarce research on the antecedents of WL, this current study is aimed at examining the mediating effect of IJ on the relationship between AL and WL.…”