스몰 토크가 도움행동과 일-가정 갈등에 미치는 영향: 사회적 감정공유의 매개효과

Effective communication is crucial for any organization's survival and performance, garnering significant interest across various academic fields. Among informal communication types, "small talk" plays a significant role in organizations and has been extensively studied internationally for its positive functions. However, domestic academic interest in small talk remains limited, with few studies conducted to this point. This study aims to address this gap with three objectives: first, to empirically examine the impact of small talk on helping behavior and work-family conflict; second, to explore the mechanism through which small talk influences members via social sharing of emotion from the perspective of conservation of resource theory; and third, to verify the effectiveness of small talk as a communication tool in hierarchical Korean organizations. A three-wave survey of 178 military officer pairs was conducted, and SEM analysis showed that small talk positively influenced social sharing of emotion, which positively impacted helping behavior and negatively impacted work-family conflict. Additionally, social sharing of emotion had a significant mediating effect between small talk, helping behavior, and work-family conflict. This study demonstrates the positive influence of small talk and introduces a new perspective for research, contributing to the expansion of related academic fields in management and organizational behavior. The findings suggest that organizational managers should consider face-to-face interactions like small talk in job design and should strive to improve awareness and activation of small talk within organizations for effective management.