The Online Self-Disclosure of Workplace Mistreatment: A Novel Construct

Abstract

Anecdotal evidence suggests that employees who are mistreated at work are speaking out about these incidents online, despite the risks to both themselves (e.g., social retaliation, professional consequences) and their organizations (e.g., reputational damage). Throughout this paper, the construct of online self-disclosure is borrowed from the literatures of social, clinical, and media psychology, and applied to the context of speaking out about workplace mistreatment. Online self-disclosure of workplace mistreatment is differentiated from the established constructs of voice and silence, and expectancy theory and cognitive heuristics are integrated to suggest when a target may choose to disclose their experiences of workplace mistreatment online. Finally, propositions are presented to support future investigations into this unique behavioural response. Scholars and practitioners who are invested in eradicating workplace mistreatment are advised to pay attention to online self-disclosures, as these communications signal inadequate workplace voice mechanisms, and thus multiple workplace mistreatment-related problems that need to be addressed.