Silent victims: Negative effects of observing workplace deviance on employees’ emotional exhaustion and workplace thriving

Abstract

Building on previous studies on third-party observations (TPOs) of mistreatments, in this study, we investigate the effects of TPO of workplace deviance (TPO-WD). Drawing on conservation of resource theory, we explore the intermediary process through which TPO-WD, influences employees’ workplace thriving. Using multi-wave data from 346 employees, our results suggest that those who observe, or hear about, incidents of workplace deviance experience a heightened level of emotional exhaustion, which has a detrimental impact on workplace thriving. Furthermore, we also test how these relationships are impacted by the extent of employees’ organizational identification and a cooperative psychological climate. These findings not only provide a resource-based view on how TPO-WD affects workplace thriving but also highlight the critical importance of cooperative psychological climate as a resource passageway to prevent damaging employees’ workplace thriving. JEL Classification: L2 Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behaviour