The blessing or curse of workplace friendship: Mediating role of organizational identification and moderating role of political skills

Workplace friendship is becoming a complex phenomenon in a working environment that signifies a need for a better understanding of when and how workplace friendship has positive and negative outcomes, specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the social exchange theory, this study aims to determine the impact of workplace friendship on organizational identification and its subsequent influence on job embeddedness, job performance, and employee wellbeing, along with the moderating role of political skills in all relationships. Using a self-administered questionnaire, the final data from 206 hotel employees were collected during three waves of COVID-19. The results highlighted that workplace friendship negatively influences organizational identification in the first wave, while organizational identification negatively relates to job performance in the first- and second waves. Moreover, organizational identification mediates the relationships of workplace friendship with employee outcomes, whereas political skills also moderate the relationships in all three waves. • Data was collected during three-waves of Covid-19 pandemic from Pakistan. • WPF has negative influence on organizational identification in adverse situations. • OI influences individual- and organizational- related outcomes negatively in adverse circumstances.