Public Administration Perspective

The Effect of Ostracism at Workplace on Employees' Creative Behavior with Emphasis on the Role of Thriving, Job Engagement and Organization-based Self-esteem

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.

2 MSc., Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Purpose: Given the dynamics of the current century's environment, service organizations, including educational institutions, require creative behavior from their employees. Considering the importance of employee creative behavior, researchers have examined individual and contextual factors and barriers that either facilitate or hinder such behavior. Studies have shown that the level of employee creativity decreases under adverse conditions. Thus, the present study focuses on one of the barriers to creative behavior, namely, workplace ostracism. Workplace ostracism can be a stressor that depletes individual resources, thereby seriously hindering employee progress and thriving. Additionally, ostracism in the workplace is a factor that diminishes employees' enthusiasm for their work, indicating a lack of job engagement, which negatively impacts their creative behaviors. However, the severity of the negative effects of ostracism may vary depending on individual differences, such as organizational-based self-esteem. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact of workplace ostracism on employee creative behavior, emphasizing the role of thriving, work engagement, and organizational-based self-esteem at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.
Design/ methodology/ approach:  This research is applied in nature and employs a descriptive-survey methodology for data collection. The study population consisted of all administrative staff at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (400 individuals), from which 196 were selected through simple random sampling. The data collection tools used in this study were standardized questionnaires, including the Workplace Ostracism Scale by Ferris et al., the Work Engagement Scale by Schaufeli and Bakker, the Workplace thriving Scale by Imran et al., the Employee Creative Behavior Scale by Yasini, and the Organizational-Based Self-Esteem Scale by Pierce et al. The validity of the questionnaires was confirmed by a panel of experts, and the reliability of the measurement tools was assessed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and composite reliability. Structural equation modeling was the analytical technique used in this study.
Research Findings: The findings from the research revealed that workplace ostracism has a significant negative relationship with work engagement and workplace thriving. Additionally, the relationship between work engagement and workplace thriving, as well as between work engagement and employees' creative behavior, was confirmed. The relationship between workplace thriving and employees' creative behavior was also validated. Moreover, workplace thriving and work engagement mediate the relationship between workplace ostracism and employees' creative behavior, while work engagement mediates the relationship between workplace ostracism and workplace thriving. Finally, workplace thriving serves as a mediator in the relationship between work engagement and employees' creative behavior.

Limitations & Consequences: The inability to generalize the research findings to all populations and the use of questionnaires to measure individuals' attitudes are among the limitations of this study.
Practical Consequences: The practical implications of this study, according to self-determination theory, suggest that employees with intrinsic motivation seek learning and progress, which enhances their thriving and creative behavior. By integrating the conservation of resources theory with the social embeddedness model of thriving, it can be argued that workplace ostracism is more detrimental to individuals with high organizational-based self-esteem in terms of their positive self-concept within the organization, posing a significant threat to their sense of thriving. Moreover, the decline in workplace thriving and work engagement due to workplace ostracism has negative consequences for employee creative behavior, as ostracized individuals feel less progress and thriving within the organization. Given the reduction in their vitality and learning, they also display lower levels of creative behavior. However, organizational managers can mitigate the negative effects of workplace ostracism on employee creative behavior by enhancing employees' thriving and work engagement.
Innovation or value of the Article: The study presents a model demonstrating the consequences of workplace ostracism.
Paper Type: Original Paper
 

Keywords

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Public Administration Perspective
Volume 15, Issue 2 - Serial Number 58
June 2024
Pages 87-110