Is Negative Attention Better Than No Attention? the Comparative Effects of Ostracism and Harassment at Work
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
This article was downloaded by: [142.103.160.110] On: 27 May 2014, At: 12:32 Publisher: Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) INFORMS is located in Maryland, USA Organization Science Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://pubsonline.informs.org Is Negative Attention Better Than No Attention? The Comparative Effects of Ostracism and Harassment at Work Jane O'Reilly, Sandra L. Robinson, Jennifer L. Berdahl, Sara Banki To cite this article: Jane O'Reilly, Sandra L. Robinson, Jennifer L. Berdahl, Sara Banki (2014) Is Negative Attention Better Than No Attention? The Comparative Effects of Ostracism and Harassment at Work. Organization Science Published online in Articles in Advance 04 Apr 2014 . http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2014.0900 Full terms and conditions of use: http://pubsonline.informs.org/page/terms-and-conditions This article may be used only for the purposes of research, teaching, and/or private study. Commercial use or systematic downloading (by robots or other automatic processes) is prohibited without explicit Publisher approval. For more information, contact [email protected]. The Publisher does not warrant or guarantee the article’s accuracy, completeness, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. Descriptions of, or references to, products or publications, or inclusion of an advertisement in this article, neither constitutes nor implies a guarantee, endorsement, or support of claims made of that product, publication, or service. Copyright © 2014, INFORMS Please scroll down for article—it is on subsequent pages INFORMS is the largest professional society in the world for professionals in the fields of operations research, management science, and analytics. For more information on INFORMS, its publications, membership, or meetings visit http://www.informs.org Organization Science Articles in Advance, pp. 1–20 ISSN 1047-7039 (print) ISSN 1526-5455 (online) http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2014.0900 © 2014 INFORMS Is Negative Attention Better Than No Attention? The Comparative Effects of Ostracism and Harassment at Work Jane O’Reilly Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada, [email protected] Sandra L. Robinson Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z2, Canada, [email protected] Jennifer L. Berdahl Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E6, Canada, [email protected] Sara Banki Graduate School of Management and Economics, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, 1459973941 Iran, [email protected] stracism has been recognized as conceptually and empirically distinct from harassment. Drawing from theory and Oresearch that suggests that employees have a strong need to belong in their organizations, we examine the comparative frequency and impact of ostracism and harassment in organizations across three field studies. Study 1 finds that a wide range of employees perceive ostracism, compared with harassment, to be more socially acceptable, less psychologically harmful, and less likely to be prohibited in their organization. Study 2 surveyed employees from a variety of organizations to test our theory that ostracism is actually a more harmful workplace experience than harassment. Supporting our predictions, compared with harassment, ostracism was more strongly and negatively related to a sense of belonging and to various measures of employee well-being and work-related attitudes. We also found that the effects of ostracism on well-being and work-related attitudes were at least partially mediated by a sense of belonging. Study 3 replicated the results of Study 2 with data collected from employees of a large organization and also investigated the comparative impact of ostracism and harassment on employee turnover. Ostracism, but not harassment, significantly predicted actual turnover three years after ostracism and harassment were assessed, and this was mediated by a sense of belonging (albeit at p < 0010). Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed. Keywords: ostracism; harassment; belongingness; well-being History: Published online in Articles in Advance. If no one turned round when we entered, answered when (Jones and Kelly 2010), is a common (Fox and Stallworth we spoke, or minded what we did, but if every person we 2005, Hitlan et al. 2006b, Williams 1997) yet particularly met “cut us dead,” and acted as if we were non-existing painful experience (Eisenberger and Lieberman 2004) things, a kind of rage and impotent despair would ere associated with a variety of detrimental physical, psycho- long well up in us, from which the cruellest bodily tortures logical, and work-related consequences (Ferris et al. 2008, would be a relief; for these would make us feel that, Hitlan et al. 2006a, Mor Barak et al. 2001; see Williams however bad might be our plight, we had not sunk to such a depth as to be unworthy of attention at all. 2007 for a review). —William James (1890/2007, pp. 293–294) In the organizational sciences, behaviors that serve to socially exclude colleagues have traditionally been studied in conjunction with a number of other behaviors Downloaded from informs.org by [142.103.160.110] on 27 May 2014, at 12:32 . For personal use only, all rights reserved. Introduction that capture negative workplace interactions (e.g., Duffy Starting with early studies on social rejection (e.g., Jackson et al. 2002, Glomb 1998, Rospenda and Richman 2004). and Saltzstein 1958, Schachter 1951), the study of behav- More recently, however, organizational scholars have iors that isolate or disconnect others from social interaction recognized that ostracism is distinct from other forms of has grown in recent decades. Ostracism (Williams 1997, harmful social behaviors at work (Balliet and Ferris 2013, 2007; Williams et al. 2000), also referred to as social Ferris et al. 2008, Hitlan et al. 2006a). Ferris et al. (2008) exclusion (DeWall et al. 2009), social isolation (Rook conceptually and empirically distinguished workplace 1984), peer rejection (Prinstein and Aikins 2004), abandon- ostracism from a wide range of other mistreatment con- ment (Baumeister et al. 1993), and being “out of the loop” structs, echoing decades of psychological research that has 1 O’Reilly et al.: Ostracism vs. Harassment 2 Organization Science, Articles in Advance, pp. 1–20, © 2014 INFORMS established the importance of understanding ostracism as sense of belonging than harassment, and a threatened a unique form of social mistreatment (see Williams 2007 sense of belonging is an important mediating variable for a review). Although the distinct nature of workplace between ostracism and an employee’s well-being and work- ostracism has been established, an important question that related attitudes. These results establish a psychological remains is whether understanding ostracism as a distinct rationale for why ostracism is a detrimental experience workplace experience adds value beyond what we already in organizations. Second, our work shows that, directly know about workplace mistreatment in general. In other counter to lay perspectives of ostracism and harassment, words, do workers view ostracism differently from other ostracism has a stronger and more negative relationship forms of mistreatment in the workplace, and, if so, how? than harassment with employee well-being outcomes More importantly, does the impact of ostracism differ and work-related attitudes. Our work supports theory from the impact of other forms of mistreatment? that suggests that ostracism is a uniquely detrimental In this research, we provide answers to these questions experience (Spoor and Williams 2007). Finally, as we will by comparing employees’ perceptions of and reactions to discuss further, our work joins the broader discussion in workplace ostracism to their perceptions of and reactions the literature on understanding the uniqueness and relative to other forms of mistreatment. We collectively refer to impact of related but distinct constructs (e.g., Hershcovis these “other” forms of mistreatment as harassment. For 2011, Tepper and Henle 2011). the purposes of our research, we use the term “harassment” We test our hypotheses across three field studies. In to capture a range of active verbal and nonverbal behav- the first study, we examine whether employees perceive iors that are directed at a target and derogate or cause ostracism, compared with harassment, to be less harmful embarrassment to that target. Importantly, harassment, and more acceptable in their workplaces. In the next unlike ostracism, engages a target in a social dynamic two studies, following methodological guidelines for with negative social attention and treatment, rather than comparative tests (Cooper and Richardson 1986), we disengaging a target with a lack of attention and treatment examine our predictions that ostracism is more common (Robinson et al. 2013). and more harmful than harassment, and we test the role We theorize that workplace ostracism is perceived by of a threatened sense of belonging. Study 2 involves a employees to be less psychologically harmful and more diverse sample of employees across many organizations, socially and organizationally acceptable than harassment whereas Study 3 seeks to replicate and extend our findings but that the impact of ostracism runs directly counter with longitudinal data from