Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend the ostracism literature by exploring the pragmatic impact
of ostracism on performance.
Design/methodology/approach – Ostracism workplace, social relations and empowerment structures are
discussed. The paper then develops a theoretical framework that explains why and under what conditions
workplace ostracism undermines employees’ performance. The author proposes that empowerment
structures mediate the link between ostracism and in-role and extra-role performance. In addition, it was
proposed that relational links buffer the negative relationship between ostracism and empowerment
structures on performance and weaken the negative indirect effect of ostracism on performance.
Findings – The theoretical arguments provide support for the model showing that empowerment structures
mediate the relationship between ostracism and performance, and the mediation effect only occurred when
external links were high but not when external links were low.
Originality/value – The author has expanded the extant literature by answering recent calls for research
exploring the pragmatic impact of workplace ostracism where past research has typically focused solely on
the psychological impacts such as psychological needs.
Publication Date
9/1/2017
Publisher
European Journal of Management and Business Economics
Volume No
Issue No
DOI
DOI 10.1108/EJMBE-07-2017-003
Keywords
Workplace ostracism, Structural empowerment, Social network, In-role performance, Extra-role performance
عامر علي العطوي | Amer Ali Al-Atwi | 11084