Influence of attachment theory on developmental networks

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Diana Ruivo de
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/16832
• topic: Attachment theory; Mentoring; Developmental networks; Work relationships; Gestão de recursos humanos; Relações interpessoais; Relações profissionais; Comportamento organizacional

Attachment theory has become one of the most influential theoretical approaches for studying close relationships across the lifespan. The influence of this theory on organizational scholarship is growing exponentially and prior research has focused on how attachment theory impacts workplace dyads, as the leader-follower and mentoring relationships. Recently, some scholars have proposed that it is relevant to extend it to other developmental relationships as peers and even to whole developmental networks. Thus, this empirical study addresses how attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance impact developmental networks by assessing them in terms of size, range and the quality of the relationships, for both career support and psychosocial support. Data collected for this study was obtained from a sample of 106 employees from a Portuguese company. In general, results revealed a rather small impact of attachment dimensions on developmental networks as most hypotheses were not supported. The significant results revealed that individuals with high avoidance attachment tend to have smaller and less diversified developmental networks receiving in general less developmental support. We discuss the implications of our findings for both theory and practice.