The literature mostly looks at friendship at work as a source of positive organizational and individual outcomes. Yet, an emerging critical literature on neo-normative control has emphasized how friendship can be mobilized to encourage self-exploitation at work. Although important in unraveling the ambivalent and complex role of friendship in organizations, this literature however looks at organizations where friendship is one element of the organizational discourse, instead of a core functioning principle. Through our case study of FriendCo, a French network of independent consultants in which friendship is seen as foundational, we make three contributions to this nascent literature. First, we show that, beyond the sole elements of ‘fun’ and ‘equality’, organizational control through friendship relies on four other dimensions: ‘emotional connection and support’, ‘personal growth’, ‘generosity’ and ‘voluntariness’. Second, we show the limits of the discourse of friendship as an alternative principle of organizing, which is in tension with a more bureaucratic conception of relationships at work as purely professional and driven by instrumental goals. Finally, our study contributes to the literature on consulting firms by showing that in non-algorithmic digital platforms, both normative and neo-normative forms of control may still be at play, despite aspirations to freedom and professional autonomy.
