Leader’s Ostracism Predicts Subordinates’ Deviant Behaviors via Emotional Dissonance and Well-being

Abstract

There is growing research interest in workplace ostracism, due to its detrimental effects. Ostracized employees may react to ostracism in a social exchange manner by enacting counterproductive work behaviors (CWB), adding to the detrimental impact of ostracism. We examine ostracism of employees instigated by the leader, which should be especially important because of the leader’s formal power vis-à-vis the subordinates. Furthermore, in order to understand the processes through which leader ostracism may affect subordinates, we propose and test a moderated mediation model, based on a stressor-strain framework, illustrating how leader ostracism predicts emotional dissonance and employees’ well-being (i.e., emotional exhaustion and work engagement) unfavorably, which in turn, resulting in CWB. We also examine if relational attributions buffer the ostracism-emotional dissonance linkage. We conducted three prospective studies with different research designs, especially regarding time lags. In Study 1, we collected data (N = 325) in a short-term three-wave prospective research design (i.e., a one-day time gap) from three construction companies. In Study 2, we collected data (N = 228) over 10 consecutive days from a construction company. In Study 3, we collected three-wave data (N = 268) over a six-month period from a hotel. Leader ostracism predicted emotional dissonance regardless of the time interval. The mediation and moderation, however, was more supported in the short than long-term designs. In sum, the current research provides a different process through which leader ostracism yields CWB via emotional dissonance and well-being, but also suggests the effects between variables may require different amounts of time.