Why and when workplace ostracism inhibits organizational citizenship behaviors: An organizational identification perspective

Abstract

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 103(7) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2018-33032-001 ). In the article, the authors incorrectly reported that they measured job mobility using three items from Tepper (2000) in the Measures section of Study 1. The section for job mobility should read: “We measured job mobility using two items from Tepper (2000) and one item added by the authors. A sample item from Tepper (2000) was: ‘I would have no problem finding an acceptable job if I quit.’ The added item was: ‘If I went out to find a job, many companies would consider giving me offers with a similar or higher salary.’ Cronbach’s alpha was .80.”] Why and when do employees respond to workplace ostracism by withholding their engagement in citizenship behavior? Beyond perspectives proposed in past studies, we offer a new account based on a social identity perspective and propose that workplace ostracism decreases citizenship behavior by undermining employees’ identification with the organization. We also theorize that perceived job mobility influences the extent to which employees identify with the organization when being ostracized. These hypotheses were examined in two time-lagged studies conducted in China. The proposed hypotheses were supported by results in Study 1, and findings were generally replicated in Study 2, where effects of other known mediators (i.e., organization-based self-esteem, job engagement, and felt obligation toward the organization) and moderators (i.e., collectivism, power distance, and future orientation) suggested by previous perspectives were controlled. Results of Study 2 provided further support of the hypothesized directional effect of workplace ostracism on citizenship behavior via organizational identification. Our studies support the identification perspective in understanding workplace ostracism and also strengthen the application of this perspective in understanding workplace aggression broadly. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)