Authenticity has long been held as a virtue. However, is it beneficial for employees to be true to themselves in coworker interactions? Drawing on social penetration theory, we argue that a focal employee’s exhibited authenticity at work helps the employee penetrate the interpersonal boundaries of an interacting coworker and as a result, the employee is more likely to be included in this coworker’s social circles and receive help from the coworker. Accordingly, we propose a dyadic-level model and test this model in two survey studies using a round-robin design. The results of both studies consistently demonstrated that the focal employee’s exhibited authenticity is positively related to help received from the coworker via inclusion in the coworker’s social circle. Further, this positive indirect relationship is moderated by the coworker’s perception of organizational politics, such that the relationship is weaker when the coworker’s perception of organizational politics is high. These findings help advance the understanding of when and how employees can gain relational benefits from displaying authenticity at work.

长期以来，真实性一直被认为是一种美德。然而，员工在与同事的互动中忠于自己是否有益？借鉴社会渗透理论，我们认为焦点员工在工作中表现出的真实性有助于员工渗透互动同事的人际边界，因此，该员工更有可能被纳入该同事的社交圈并获得来自同事的帮助。同事。因此，我们提出了一个二元级模型，并在两个使用循环设计的调查研究中测试了这个模型。两项研究的结果一致表明，核心员工表现出的真实性与通过融入同事的社交圈而从同事那里获得的帮助呈正相关。更多，这种积极的间接关系受到同事对组织政治的看法的调节，因此当同事对组织政治的看法高时，这种关系较弱。这些发现有助于加深对员工何时以及如何通过在工作中展示真实性来获得相关利益的理解。