Abstract
Personal story disclosure supports the development of interpersonal relationships through the building of trust and feelings of closeness. In organizational teams, trust is key to the promotion of cooperative behaviors and team performance, and collaboration within a team and across teams becomes exceedingly important as organizations grow and increase in complexity. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of specific types of personal storytelling on a person's desire to collaborate with others in the workplace. I conclude that the following characteristics of personal story sharing by co-workers have a positive impact on desire to collaborate with the sharer: stories that reveal or imply attractive professional traits; stories perceived as having a deeper, more emotionally-driven narrative; and stories with a high degree of relatability to the recipient. These conclusions drove recommendations to organizational leaders to design interventions among their teams that elicit the sharing of personal stories.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Teams in the workplace; Organizational effectiveness; Work environment; Job satisfaction
Date of Award
2020
School Affiliation
Graziadio Business School
Department/Program
Business
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Masters
Faculty Advisor
Gary Mangiofico
Recommended Citation
Ebeling, Matt, "Once upon a team: the impact of personal storytelling types on desire to collaborate" (2020). Theses and Dissertations. 1180.
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/1180