To drink or not to drink; that is the question! Antecedents and consequences of employee business drinking

Drinking with others is seen as a necessary activity for business negotiations worldwide. However, employee alcohol use in business context is rarely investigated. This study focuses on employee business drinking (EBD), defined as employee drinking with clients for business matters. Based on role theory, the antecedents and consequences of EBD are examined using three-wave data obtained from 183 full-time Chinese employees. The results show that the leader business drinking norms and coworker business drinking norms have positive effects on EBD. Employees with high performance drinking motives and high alcohol tolerance are more likely to participate in EBD. Furthermore, EBD is positively related to leader-member exchange (LMX), team-member exchange (TMX), and client ties. These results show the drivers and potentially beneficial effects of EBD and provide important theoretical and practical implications.