Consequences of Workplace Ostracism: A Meta-Analytic Review

Abstract

Workplace ostracism, which is regarded as “social death,” is rampant in organizations and has attracted significant research attention. We extend the understanding of workplace ostracism by conducting a meta-analysis of studies of the relationships between workplace ostracism and its consequences. We also explore the moderating effects of national culture (i.e., collectivism vs. individualism) and the mediating effects of organization-based self-esteem (OBSE). The results of a meta-analysis of 95 independent samples (N = 26,767) reveal that exposure to workplace ostracism is significantly related to individuals’ attitudes, well-beings, and behaviors. Moreover, the effects of workplace ostracism on belongingness, job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) toward individuals (OCBI), organizational deviance, and interpersonal deviance are stronger in individualist contexts than in collectivist contexts. However, the relationships between workplace ostracism and organizational identification and OCB are stronger in collectivist contexts than in individualist contexts. Our meta-analytical structural equation modeling also provides evidence of the mediating effects of OBSE on the relationships between workplace ostracism and organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and job performance. The implications and limitations of our study and future research directions are also discussed.

The relational effects of perceived leadership 4.0, workplace ostracism, and innovative work behavior on organizational performance in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR)

“…These findings add to some scholars' existing views, and opinions (for example, [28][29][30]) that perceived workplace ostracism decreases organizational performance. This result is also in line with [36]. They noted that perceived workplace ostracism makes individuals appraise themselves as miserable failures, provoking them to display less organizational commitment and lower job satisfaction, leading to poor performance.…”

“…Hence, this misattribution can negatively affect the employer, making employees less likely to engage in conscientious work efforts that benefit their organizations [33,34]. Studies have shown that perceived workplace ostracism makes individuals appraise themselves as miserable failures, provoking them to display less organizational commitment and lower job satisfaction, leading to poor performance [35,36]. Reinforced by the studies on perceived workplace ostracism and organizational performance, stated above, the present investigation hypothesized that:…”

Workplace Ostracism and Counterproductive Work Behaviors: The Chain Mediating Role of Anger and Turnover Intention

“…Recently, Xu et al (2020) , using a social exchange perspective, proposed that the negative effects of workplace ostracism on work engagement. Furthermore, the results of a meta-analysis of 95 independent samples ( N =26,767) from Asia or the Occident revealed that exposure to workplace ostracism is significantly and negatively related to organizational identification, organizational commitment, belongingness, job satisfaction, job performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and positively related to turnover intentions, emotional exhaustion, organizational deviance, and interpersonal deviance ( Li et al, 2021 ). Therefore, it is vital to explore the antecedent variables of employees’ counterproductive work behaviors from the perspective of ostracism in the workplace.…”

Workplace ostracism among immigrant workers: The moderating effect of cultural identity salience and interpersonal harmony value.

“…Second, we advance the knowledge of boundary factors (Bilal et al, 2021; Li et al, 2021; Mao et al, 2018), by revealing the buffering effect of cultural values HCIS and HE on the relationship between acculturation demands and perceived workplace ostracism. Most of the workplace ostracism literature have presented personal (e.g., Big 5 personality) and contextual (e.g., leadership) as moderators of workplace ostracism (Howard et al, 2020).…”