A Meta-analysis of Attachment at Work

Abstract

This meta-analysis aimed to confirm and clarify the relationships between attachment style and various workplace correlates, including job performance, burnout, personality, and job satisfaction (K = 109 independent samples, N = 32,278 participants). Results provided the strongest support for the relationships between attachment style and the Big Five personality traits, burnout, and job performance. Anxious attachment was also related to a host of other correlates, including job stress, turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and work engagement. Additionally, dominance analysis was used and found that attachment style had incremental validity beyond the Big Five in the prediction of job performance, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and leader-member exchange. Finally, we examined meta-analytic path models in which attachment style impacted job performance, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and leader-member exchange through trust in supervisor. This indirect effect was supported for all correlates and for both anxious and avoidant attachment. Overall, the results supported the use of attachment styles as an important correlate with organizational variables. Limitations, implications, and areas for future research are discussed.