Will I speak up or remain silent? Workplace ostracism and employee performance based on self-control perspective.

Abstract

Drawing on the self-control perspective, this study investigated the buffering effect of emotional suppression in reducing the harmful influence of workplace ostracism on employee performance. The research also studied the mediating role of employee silence and voice behaviors based on social exchange theory. We performed moderated mediation analysis on responses received from 159 employees working in the financial industry of the Southern Punjab region of Pakistan. The results showed that workplace ostracism harms employee performance via employee silence and voice behaviors. Furthermore, emotional suppression moderated the mediated relationship between workplace ostracism and employee performance. The results indicated that if ostracized employees adopt voice behavior, emotional suppression cannot aid them in performing better as compared to those who remain silent and regain their self-esteem. Our findings highlight the importance of emotional suppression capability in reducing the damaging outcomes of ostracism in organizational settings.