Intimacy in economic organizations

Abstract

Purpose – The mingling of economic transactions with sexual intimacy, friendship, and kinship sometimes causes trouble in workplaces, but prevailing analyses misrepresent how and why that trouble occurs. Analyses of the impact of intimate relations on organizational effectiveness range from claims of disruption to claims of sociable satisfaction. Such relations often coexist with organizational effectiveness, and sometimes contribute to it.

Methodology – A review and synthesis of available literature identifies theoretical and empirical obstacles to recognition of how intimacy operates within organizations.

Findings – This analysis draws attention to relations between intimate pairs and third parties as crucial to intimacy's impact.

Citation

Zelizer, V.A. (2009), "Intimacy in economic organizations", Bandelj, N. (Ed.) Economic Sociology of Work (Research in the Sociology of Work, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 23-55. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0277-2833(2009)0000018005