Influence of workplace ostracism on employee voice behavior

摘要

Workplace ostracism refers to isolation, neglect or bad treatment from others in the workplace. Ostracism is present across the world in all countries and in all cultures. This negatively impacts an employee's behavior, and reduces his or her ability to work efficiently. It reduces self-esteem, control and the sense of pride and creates stress, exhaustion and a depressed mood. Overall, workplace ostracism can lead to workplace deviance and counterproductive behavior affecting work efficiency. Though many studies has been carried out on workplace ostracism, there are not many with empirical analysis pertaining to the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee voice behavior, which is an important indicator of organizational effectiveness. Employees often find it difficult to express their views on operational areas mainly because of the threat to social security. The source of workplace ostracism may be from coworkers or from supervisors and have different effects. It is found that supervisor ostracism is more harmful than coworker ostracism. The role played by cultural values on the effect of ostracism is also important. Since the Chinese context is different from that of western countries, the effect of ostracism has to be specifically examined in context. This article examines the effect of workplace ostracism and explores the moderating effects of employee traditionality and power disparities. (50 refs.).