Dyadic-Level Analyses in Organizational Behavior: The Utility of the Social Relations Model

The relationships that bind two people together may be the foundation of all social life, including organizational behavior. Studying phenomena that occur in dyads embedded in the larger organization is a challenge that can be addressed with the Social Relations Model. The Social Relations Model, however, has been used only by a handful of OB and HR scholars. In this symposium a wide range of applications of the Social Relations Model will be demonstrated showing its relevance for understanding interviewer-interviewee attraction and selectivity, for addressing the meaning of humility measures, for separating the effects of listening quality from speaking quality in affecting helping organizational citizenship behavior, and the evolution of trust in intact teams. As a whole, this symposium is a showcase of the application of the Social Relations Model and a call for researchers to consider the dyadic level of analysis.