A riposte to ostracism and tolerance to workplace incivility: a generational perspective
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-07-2016-0153 |
| Pages | 441-457 |
| Published date | 05 March 2018 |
| Date | 05 March 2018 |
| Author | A. Mohammed Abubakar,Taraneh Foroutan Yazdian,Elaheh Behravesh |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
A riposte to ostracism and
tolerance to workplace incivility:
a generational perspective
A. Mohammed Abubakar
College of Business, Antalya Bilim University, Antalya, Turkey
Taraneh Foroutan Yazdian
Faculty of Business and Economics,
Eastern Mediterranean University, Gazimagusa, Turkey, and
Elaheh Behravesh
Faculty of Business Administration,
Eastern Mediterranean University, Gazimagusa, Turkey
Abstract
Purpose –Workplace mistreatment and aggression have become pressing issues in today’s multi-generational
workplace. Yet, to date, the issue of investigating the impacts of passive and active types of mistreatment
simultaneously on different generations has been widely neglected in the management literature. The purpose of
this paper is to empirically explore the resultant effects of active (i.e. workplace tolerance to incivility) and passive
(i.e. workplace ostracism) mistreatments on negative emotion and intention to sabotage, a generational perspective.
Design/methodology/approach –Data were garnered from bank employees in Nigeria (n¼320) and
analyzed with the aid of a structural equation modeling technique.
Findings –The data reveal that active and passive workplace mistreatments are relevant factors inflicting
negative emotions and intention to sabotage, and negative emotions inflict the intention to sabotage.
Furthermore,the impact ofpassive workplace mistreatment on negativeemotion is higheramong Generations X
and Y cohorts,and its impacton the intention to sabotageis higher among BabyBoomers cohorts. Theimpact of
active workplace mistreatmenton negative emotion is higheramong Generation Y and BabyBoomers cohorts,
and its impact onthe intention to sabotage is higheramong Generations X and Y cohorts.
Originality/value –This paper advances our knowledge concerning the reactional response of employees to
workplace mistreatment generation wise. Based on the study findings, theoretical and practical implications
are identified and discussed.
Keywords Quantitative, Nigeria, Intention to sabotage, Ostracism, Generation, Negative emotion,
Tolerance to workplace incivility
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Workplace mistreatment is a form of exclusionary behaviors divided into passive
(i.e. workplace ostracism) and active (i.e. incivility, bullying and sexual harassment), as
noted by Hitlan, Kelly, Schepman, Schneider and Zárate (2006). Ostracism is defined as
“painful and aversive experience which causes a sense of social pain”(Eisenberger et al.,
2003, p. 291). As a passive form of mistreatment, it is the extent to which individuals have
the perception of being ignored or excluded. This means, compared to other types of
obvious, direct and visible undermining behaviors (e.g. verbal abuse, incivility), ostracism
(silence or no response to greeting) is more covert and indirect (Williams and Zadro, 2001).
Ostracism threatens different types of resources employee needs for dealing with daily
events (Ferris, Berry, Brown and Lian, 2008; Wu et al., 2012). The perception of unfriendly
work environment and resource loss may cause psychological pain (Colligan and Higgins,
2006), negative affect and job dissatisfaction (Wu et al., 2012).
Workplace incivility is reported to cause psychological distress (Cortina et al., 2001) and
reinforce feelings of separation, loneliness, alienation and frustration among employees
Personnel Review
Vol. 47 No. 2, 2018
pp. 441-457
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-07-2016-0153
Received 9 July 2016
Revised 13 January 2017
Accepted 5 June 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
441
Riposte to
ostracism and
tolerance
(Vickers, 2006). It may result in depression and anxiety, job dissatisfaction, job tension,
turnover intentions (Ferris, Berry, Brown and Lian, 2008; Ferris, Brown, Berry and Lian,
2008), emotional exhaustion, depressed mood at job, decline in organization’s contribution
and lower job performance (Leung et al., 2011). Quality of social contacts comprehensively
affects the organization’s outcomes. For example, negative feelings and stress level of
employees are intensified by damaged workplace relationships (MacDonald et al., 2001).
According to Abubakar and Arasli (2016), these negative emotions and feelings at work can
also lead to the intention to disrupt or harm service flow in the organization. With respect to
sabotage perspective, they also specified that before the actual sabotage incidence, the first
step is the intention to sabotage. They defined intention to sabotage as “a negative
dispositional attitude, negative destructive state of mind which is characterized by
alienation, withdrawal and termination”(p. 2).
Academics have shown considerable attention to generational differences in workplace
attitudes and behaviors (Park and Gursoy, 2012). This includes work arrangements
(Carlson, 2004), career development (McDonald and Hite, 2008) and many more. Bearing in
mind that each generation has its own sets of values and behaviors due to the period in
which they are born (Fountain and Lamb, 2011), reception and reaction to workplace
mistreatments should vary across them ( Joshi et al., 2011). This paper is interested in
exploring the reactional response to active and passive workplace mistreatments from
employees in different generations. Moreover, Samnani and Singh (2012) noted that
mistreatment studies have been comparatively unexplored, while Reio and Ghosh (2009)
called for more exploration concerning uncivil workplace behaviors aimed at understanding
and lowering such behaviors. Taken all this together, the current study will shed light from
a generational horizon, and practitioners could benefit from the outcome and apply it as a
panacea in creating a healthy workplace environment.
1.1 Value of the study
Sanusi (2012), the former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), noted that “a
well-functioning financial system matters to everyone and to the economy at large.”The banking
industry experienced a reform which led to several mergers and acquisitions. Hitherto, mergers
and acquisitions have been associated with a range of negative behavioral outcomes, such as acts
of theft and sabotage, increased voluntary turnover and absenteeism (Cartwright, 2006; cf. Gunu,
2009). A study in the Nigerian banking industry found that humane treatment of employees is a
strategy to enhance organizational performance and employee retention (Gberevbie, 2010).
Exploring the joint effects of passive and active workplace mistreatments would provide
a finer-grained theoretical analysis than prior studies who explored the phenomena
individually, as this has not been examined elsewhere and in the Nigerian banking industry.
Building on the ideas presented above, we sought to explore whether ostracism and
tolerance to workplace incivility would be associated with increased negative emotional
feelings and the intention to sabotage. At this juncture, this paper attempts to advance
knowledge concerning the reactional response of employees generation wise. The paper also
utilized a unique sample of workers in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and one of the
fastest growing economies in the world, with diverse middle- and working-class workers.
2. Hypotheses development
2.1 Ostracism, negative emotions and intention to sabotage
Compared to other active forms of interpersonal conflicts like bullying and incivility,
ostracism is more a passive form of aggression (Zhao et al., 2013). It can happen in different
ways, such as leaving the area intentionally or giving a silent treatment to the particular
individuals (Liu et al., 2013). Hostility, aggression (Leung et al., 2011), and sever workplace
442
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47,2
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