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Study finds women build strong workplace friendships than men

Phys · 🇺🇸 public United States · · 431 words · By Durham University
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What to know about Study finds women build strong workplace friendships than men

A study from Durham University Business School suggests that women and men form workplace friendships differently, with women tending to create larger, interconnected networks and men forming more selective, goal-oriented relationships. The researchers suggest these differing social patterns may impact workplace equality and career advancement opportunities.

Propaganda risk 10%
Claims checked 12
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center83%
Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Study finds women build strong workplace friendships than men Gaby Clark Scientific Editor Andrew Zinin Chief Editor Women are more likely to form close-knit friendship groups at work, a Durham University Business School study suggests.

Why it matters

The findings are published in the journal Social Networks.

Common ground

The study found female employees are more likely to build friendships through existing social connections, creating larger workplace friendship networks.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

A study from Durham University Business School suggests that women and men form workplace friendships differently, with women tending to create larger, interconnected networks and men forming more selective, goal-oriented relationships. The researchers suggest these differing social patterns may impact workplace equality and career advancement opportunities.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-08-women-strong-workplace-friendships-men.html

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 12 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6
help Insufficient Evidence 2
schedule Pending 2
info Single Source 2
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Claim 1: “The study found female employees are more likely to build friendships through existing social connections, creating larger workplace friendship networks.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm that female employees are more likely to build friendships through existing social connections, leading to larger networks.
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web search NEUTRAL — The study found female employees are more likely to build friendships through existing social connections, creating larger workplace friendship networks.
https://www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/latest-news/2026/08/stu…
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web search NEUTRAL — Research tracking nearly 150 employees found women form broader workplace friendship networks, while men tend to build more selective relationships linked to individual goals.
https://www.peoplematters.in/news/employee-engagement/women-…
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web search NEUTRAL — A Durham University-led study found female employees were more likely to become friends with friends of existing friends, creating larger and more interconnected workplace groups. Those relationships …
https://the-european.eu/story-64617/women-form-tighter-workp…
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Claim 2: “Researchers examined how workplace friendships develop differently among men and women by following almost 150 employees during their first 10 months in an organization.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm the study followed almost 150 employees during their first 10 months in an organization.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 10 (ten) is the natural number following 9 and preceding 11. Ten is the base of decimal numeral systems, the most common systems for denoting numbers in both spoken and written language. The English n…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 150 (one hundred [and] fifty) is the natural number following 149 and preceding 151.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/150_(number)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Ford F-Series is a series of light-duty trucks marketed and manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since model year 1948 as a range of full-size pickup trucks—positioned between Ford's Ranger and …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_F-Series
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 3: “Participants were surveyed on four occasions and asked about the friendships they had formed at work.”
CORROBORATED
Three independent sources confirm that participants were surveyed on four occasions/times.
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web search NEUTRAL — Participants were surveyed four times, allowing the researchers to track how friendships took shape and evolved. They then used a stochastic actor-oriented model (SAOM) to analyse changes in friendshi…
https://theprint.in/feature/women-and-men-make-friends-diffe…
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web search NEUTRAL — Researchers examined how workplace friendships develop differently among men and women by following almost 150 employees during their first ten months in an organisation. Participants were surveyed on…
https://www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/latest-news/2026/08/stu…
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web search NEUTRAL — Across their first 10 months with the organization, around 140 participants answered four surveys about their workplace friendships. Fifty-five percent of the participants were women, while 45% were m…
https://eikaiwa.dmm.com/app/daily-news/article/women-build-s…
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Claim 4: “The researchers found male employees were more likely to form individual friendships with other men.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute this specific claim.
schedule
Claim 5: “Previous research has linked close workplace relationships with higher levels of engagement, productivity and innovation.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 6: “These "friend of a friend" relationships are also more likely to involve other women.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this specific claim consists of irrelevant search results regarding YouTube TV and Creator Awards, providing no information about the study's findings on 'friend of a friend' relationships.
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web search NEUTRAL — YouTube TV outside of your home area While outside of your home area, you can watch programming local to where you are, but you can’t record or watch networks local to your home area.
https://support.google.com/youtubetv/answer/7129768?hl=en&co…
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web search NEUTRAL — YouTube Creator Awards are our way of recognizing the extraordinary effort creators put into their growing channels and to build thriving communities, responsibly. To be eligible for a Creator Award, …
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7682560?hl=en
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 15, 2026 · When we enter the YouTube stream key on OBS, it uploads the video directly on our YouTube page, but doesn't send to the stream that is intended. We have 4 or 5 other simultaneous stream…
https://obsproject.com/forum/tags/youtube/
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Claim 7: “Women are more likely to form close-knit friendship groups at work, a Durham University Business School study suggests.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web search results confirm that a Durham University Business School study suggests women are more likely to form close-knit friendship groups at work.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Fudan University (FDU) is a public university in Yangpu, Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education and is co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal Government. The university is par…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fudan_University
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The University of Durham, which operates under the trading name of Durham University, is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorpo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durham_University
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Durham University Business School (DUBS) is the business school of Durham University, a collegiate public research university in Durham, England. The school holds triple accreditation from AACSB, AMBA…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durham_University_Business_Sch…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 8: “Inga Carboni et al, Gender differences in workplace friendship development: Insights from network dynamics, Social Networks (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.socnet.2026.07.001”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 9: “men tend to develop more selective one-to-one friendships and are less likely to form relationships through mutual contacts.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm that men tend to establish more selective one-to-one relationships and are less likely to form them through mutual contacts compared to women.
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web search NEUTRAL — Researchers found that women were more likely to develop friendships through "friend of a friend" connections, while men tended to establish more selective one-to-one relationships. Tracking workplace…
https://www.peoplematters.in/news/employee-engagement/women-…
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web search NEUTRAL — The study found that women were more likely to build strong, cohesive, and non-hierarchical relationships with other women, especially where a mutual connection was already in place. For men, having a…
https://theprint.in/feature/women-and-men-make-friends-diffe…
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web search NEUTRAL — Women build stronger workplace friendships than men, study finds. New research involving Professor Andrew Parker from our Department of Management and Marketing suggests women are more likely to form …
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/durham-university_workplacecu…
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Claim 10: “The findings are published in the journal Social Networks.”
CORROBORATED
Three separate web search results explicitly state the study was published in the journal 'Social Networks'.
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web search NEUTRAL — The study: “Gender differences in workplace friendship development: Insights from Network Dynamics”, was published in the Social Networks journal.
https://dur.ac.uk/news-events/latest-news/2026/08/study-find…
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web search NEUTRAL — Titled ‘Gender differences in workplace friendship development: Insights from network dynamics’, the peer-reviewed study was published on 8 July 2026 in Elsevier’s Social Networks journal.
https://theprint.in/feature/women-and-men-make-friends-diffe…
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web search NEUTRAL — The study, published in the journal Social Networks, was led by Professor Andrew Parker of Durham University Business School, in collaboration with researchers from William and Mary’s Raymond A. Mason…
https://britaindaily.co.uk/2026/08/18/women-form-closer-work…
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Claim 11: “Female friendship networks were found to contribute more to organizational stability, while male friendships appeared more focused on individual benefit.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute this specific claim.
info
Claim 12: “The research was led by Andrew Parker, professor in leadership, alongside colleagues from William & Mary's Raymond A. Mason School of Business in the United States and Università della Svizzera Italiana in Switzerland.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While one web search result ('Gender Differences in Workplace Friendship Networks') confirms Professor Andrew Parker's leadership and the collaboration with William & Mary and Università della Svizzera Italiana, the other provided evidence for this claim consists of irrelevant Wikipedia entries for different people named Parker.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Brigadier Andrew Henry Parker Bowles (born 27 December 1939) is a retired British Army officer. He is the former husband of Queen Camilla, who is now the wife of King Charles III.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Parker_Bowles
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Laura Rose Lopes (née Parker Bowles; born 19 April 1978) is an English art curator. She is the daughter of Andrew Parker Bowles and Queen Camilla, making her the stepdaughter of King Charles III.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Lopes
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Mary-Louise Parker (born August 2, 1964) is an American actress. She is known for her roles on stage and screen and has received various accolades including two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy A…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary-Louise_Parker
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.