Proceedings of The 7th International Conference on Research in Management
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Diverse Work Climate and Coworker Ostracism
Abdul Karim Khan, Samina Quratulain
ABSTRACT:
Organizations encourage employees to work in teams, however a phenomenon of employee ostracism limits the utility of teamwork. Employee ostracism refers to a situation where employees ignore and avoid their coworkers. Social comparison theory suggests that employees’ envy toward high performing individuals can be one of the reasons for their ostracism behavior. In the current study we examine employees’ relative performance and proactive behavior as predictors of coworker ostracism and extent of diverse climate is proposed as a moderator. A sample of 45 supervisors and 193 subordinates of hospitality organizations was used to test our multilevel research model. Findings suggest that relative task performance triggers coworker ostracism and this effect is stronger in highly diverse work climates, however the effect of proactive behavior triggers coworker ostracism in both high and low diverse climates. These findings highlight the negative coworker consequences for employees’ performance and proactive behaviors.
keywords: coworker ostracism, diversity climate, proactive behavior, task performance, hospitality