A Cross-level Study On The Influence Of Workplace Ostracism On Voice Behavior

With the development of the global economy,the organizational structure is increasingly showing the tendency of complicated staff structure and diversified network relationships.This also makes the conflicts and contradictions in the process of interaction between individuals in the organization more and more common.Therefore,under the background of Chinese culture,especially on the premise of modern enterprises emphasizing and calling for a harmonious interpersonal atmosphere,it becomes more and more important to explore how these contradictions and conflicts among employees would affect employees and organizations.Workplace ostracism,as a negative interpersonal treatment,widely exists in Chinese organizations.Previous research has indicated that workplace ostracism can affect employees' health,attitude and behavior in negative ways.At the same time,employee voice,which is the important thought source of organizational innovation,has great significance for organization change and development,is therefore paid more and more attention to by the business circles and academia.Would workplace ostracism have impact on employee voice behavior? If there is impact,what is the process mechanism? Furthermore,considering contextual factors usually influence individual behavior,then is there any other group-level factors that moderate the relationship between an individual's perceived workplace ostracism and voice behavior? These questions need to be answered.Based on attachment theory and social comparison theory,the current study examined the impact of workplace ostracism on employee voice behavior,with data collected from a private enterprise in Yangtze River Delta and a state-owned company with operations throughout the country and analyzed data by using document analysis,research method and statistical analysis as study methods and SPSS 23.0,AMOS 22.0 and Mplus as data analysis tools.Meanwhile,the current study proposed that group emotional attachment mediates the relationship between individual-level workplace ostracism and voice behavior,group-level workplace ostracism moderates the relationship between individual-level workplace ostracism and group emotional attachment,and group cohesion moderates the relationship between group emotional attachment and voice behavior.The current study is conducted following these procedures: First,after reviewing existing researches regarding workplace ostracism,voice behavior,emotional attachment,and group cohesion,the current study points out research gaps,proposes theoretical framework and research hypotheses.Second,based on existing mature scales,combined with experts' advice and interviewing materials,the current study determines measuring scales of workplace ostracism,group emotional attachment,voice behavior and group cohesion.Then a small sample pre-test is conducted to examine the reliability and validity of those scales to form the formal version questionnaire.Thirdly,the author conducts a large-scale survey in Beijing,Tianjing,Taiyuan and Nanjing of China,and analyzes data using SPSS 23.0,AMOS 22.0 and Mplus to examine proposed hypotheses.Finally yet importantly,the research results are discussed to form basic conclusions,practical recommendations are provided,and limitations and future research directions are proposed.Main conclusions: Individual-level workplace ostracism has a significant negative impact on group emotional attachment.Group emotional attachment has significant positive impacts on both promotive and prohibitive voice behavior.Group emotional attachment mediates the relationships between individual-level workplace ostracism and promotive,prohibitive voice behavior.Group-level workplace ostracism moderates the relationship between individual-level workplace ostracism and group emotional attachment,so that the higher the group-level workplace ostracism,the smaller the negative influence of individual-level workplace ostracism on group emotional attachment.Group cohesion moderates the relationship between group emotional attachment and voice behavior,so that the higher the group cohesion,the stronger the positive influence of group emotional attachment on voice behavior.The current study examines the possible influence of workplace ostracism on voice behavior under the Chinese context.Based on attachment theory,the current study explores the mechanisms through which workplace ostracism can affect voice behavior.Based on social comparison theory,the current study analyzes the cross-level moderating effects of group-level workplace ostracism and group cohesion.