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The Predictive Effects of Workplace Ostracism on Employee Attitudes: A Job Embeddedness Perspective

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Abstract

It has been contended that ostracism is prevalent in the workplace, and there has been increasing research interest in its potential effects. This paper extends the theoretical framework of workplace ostracism by linking it with affective commitment and intention to leave from the perspective of job embeddedness. Using time-lagged data from China, we apply job embeddedness theory to confirm that workplace ostracism decreases the cultivation of job embeddedness, which in turn undermines affective commitment and induces intention to leave. We also find that intrinsic work motivation strengthens the detrimental effects of workplace ostracism on job embeddedness such that the negative relationship is stronger when intrinsic motivation is high rather than low. We further discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and offer future research directions.

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 1609018), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71702198).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of International Business Administration, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Yijing Lyu

  2. School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-Sen University, 135 Xingangxi Road, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Hong Zhu

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  1. Yijing Lyu
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Correspondence to Hong Zhu.

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Lyu, Y., Zhu, H. The Predictive Effects of Workplace Ostracism on Employee Attitudes: A Job Embeddedness Perspective. J Bus Ethics 158, 1083–1095 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3741-x

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