Investigating The Impact of Workplace Ostracism on Work Engagement While Focusing on Mediation Effect of Organizational Based Self-Esteem and General Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Organizations face challenges of thriving in a changing business landscape. They can gain competitive advantage by identifying and addressing threats to their employees’ Work Environment (WE). One of the factors that affect WE is Workplace Ostracism (WO), which is one’s perception of being neglected or isolated by others. It also impacts an employee’s adequacy and worthiness, known as Organization Based Self-Esteem (OBSE) and confidence in their ability to perform well in various situations, known as General Self-Efficacy (GSE).  Literature on WO has reported that self-esteem and self-efficacy can mitigate its effect on work-related activities (such as job performance). However, research on the impact of WO and WE are sparse, and none have reported mediation of GSE and OBSE on their relationship. This study contributes the sparse literature on WO by examining the impact of WO on WE and the mediation effect of OBSE and GSE. Data was collected through an online questionnaire from 206 respondents of private and public sectors of various industries. Results indicate a negative relation between WO and WE. While OBSE was a perfect mediator between the relationship of WO and WE whereas, in another instance, GSE reported partial mediation.