Impact of organizational silence and favoritism on nurse's work outcomes and psychological well‐being

Abstract

Objectives The study aimed to assess the impacts of organizational silence and favoritism on work outcomes and psychological wellbeing among nurses working in hospitals. Background Literature on the organizational climate among nurses in hospital settings is limited, particularly on favoritism and organizational silence and their effect on nurses. Methods Purposive sampling was used to gather 549 registered nurses who participated in this cross‐sectional study. Standardized self‐report questionnaires were used to gather the necessary data. Results Years in the nursing profession (β = .028, P < .001), location of work (β = 0.481, P < .001), and facility size (β = 0.451, P < .001) strongly predicted organizational silence, while years in the present unit (β = 0.020, P = .022) and last shift length (β = 0.200, P = .012) predicted favoritism. Favoritism (β = 0.226, P = .028) significantly influenced turnover intention in nurses. Conclusion Higher levels of favoritism within the organization are strongly linked with nurses' turnover intention. Few individual and organizational variables predicted organizational silence and favoritism. Implications to Nursing Management The results of this study provide an insight to the effects of organizational silence and favoritism towards nurses' work outcomes and psychological wellbeing. Improving the channels of communication among the healthcare team is vital to promote inclusivity among healthcare workers and enhance organizational viability.

The role of leader favoritism, unfairness, and employability in employee psychological withdrawal behavior

“…We provide empirical evidence that employees psychologically withdraw at work (i.e., reduce work efforts) as a response to a dissatisfying work condition, which in the case of this study, was brought about by leaders perceived to play favorites or give preferential treatment to subordinates at work. On this note, our finding resonates with ample evidence of the influence of negative work context on shaping employees' negative work attitudes and behavior (De los Santos et al, 2020; Imam & Chambel, 2020; Wang et al, 2018), consistent with the notion of negative reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960) embedded in social relationships perceived to be dysfunctional or one‐sided.…”

“…Secondly, we show that leader favoritism induces a feeling of unfairness in non-favored employees, which explains how such discriminatory treatment drives employees to withdraw at work mentally. Our finding is significant as much of the literature points out a direct link (Abubakar et al, 2017;De los Santos et al, 2020;Hsiung & Bolino, 2017). We further add value to the SET by examining the psychological process to explain how and why leader favoritism drives employees to psychologically withdraw at work.…”

“…An essential contribution lies in the mediated moderation model to offer empirical insights into how perceived leader favoritism influences withdrawal behaviors and when this effect is more pronounced. Studies have looked at the consequence of leader favoritism on withdrawal behavior (Abubakar et al, 2017; Arasli et al, 2019; De los Santos et al, 2020; Hsiung & Bolino, 2017). We add to this stream of research by drawing from social exchange theory to integrate the mediator of perceived unfairness to explain how leader favoritism will drive employees to withdraw at work and test whether their withdrawal behavior is heightened due to perceived unfairness when they perceive that they can secure alternative employment.…”

“…Loyalty acquisition and power centralization (Blasé, 1988; Bani‐Melhem et al, 2022), self‐interest maximization (Cropanzano et al, 1997), and organizational politics and role ambiguity (Li, 2016) emerge as the malevolent intentions behind favoritism, while knowledge enhancement surfaces as a positive driver of favoritism (Adler & Kwon, 2002). Nonetheless, employees have always perceived favoritism as an unfair and discriminated practice (Blasé, 1988; Lim et al, 2023), driving employees to develop workplace negativity and exhibit various forms of psychological withdrawal behaviors (Abubakar et al, 2017; De los Santos et al, 2020; Hsiung & Bolino, 2017), which diminish their loyalty and performance (Naseer et al, 2016), job satisfaction and work commitment along with distrust in leader and organization (Saleem et al, 2018).…”

Does Self-Esteem Really Matter? Determining the Role of Self-Esteem in Cynical-Silent Employees

“…Andersson and Bateman (1997: 450) defines cynicism as an attitude characterized by negative feelings, mistrust and disappointment towards a person, group, ideology, social contract, or institution. Dean et al (1998) evaluates the subject in the organizational environment and examines it more specifically. They explain cynicism as an employee attitude consisting of three dimensions towards the organization.…”