Influence of workplace ostracism on employee voice behavior

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of workplace ostracism on employee voice behavior. We also distinguish the influence of supervisor ostracism from that of coworker ostracism and explore the moderating effects of employee traditionality and power distance. A supervisor-subordinate matching survey was conducted at 22 enterprises in China. Approximately 262 valid samples were collected. The results of hierarchical regression analyses demonstrate that supervisor ostracism has a negative impact on employee voice behavior. However, coworker ostracism has no effect on employee voice behavior. In addition, the negative relationship between supervisor ostracism and employee voice behaviorwasweaker for employees with high traditionality. Finally, employee power distance mitigates the extent of the negative relationship between supervisor ostracism and employee voice behavior.