Does dignity matter? The effects of workplace dignity on organization-based self-esteem and discretionary work effort

Abstract

Burgeoning research on workplace dignity has captured the interest of organizational-behavior scholars. However, research to date has either focused on the conditions that contribute to workplace dignity or how individuals experience and respond both to dignity and dignity threats. Little is known about the psychological and behavioral consequences of dignity in the workplace. Building on the resource caravans principle of conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study attempts to bridge this gap and investigates ‘how’ employees’ perceptions of workplace dignity might affect their discretionary work effort. Two-wave survey data were collected from 180 employees in the development sector organizations in Pakistan and the bootstrap mediation analysis using PROCESS macro was performed to test the hypothesis. Whilst workplace dignity, organization-based self-esteem, and discretionary work effort were found to be positively associated with each other, organization-based self-esteem mediated the workplace dignity–discretionary work effort relationship. More specifically, workplace dignity positively predicted discretionary work effort through increasing organization-based self-esteem. As a pioneering study examining how workplace dignity affects discretionary work effort, this research not only advances the relevant literature, but also lends credence to COR theory’s relatively less scrutinized resource caravans principle. Implications for theory, research, management practice, and strategic human resource management are also discussed.