A Study On The Influence Mechanism Of Machiavellians On Supervisor Ostracism From The Perspective Of Dissimilarity-Attraction

To a certain extent,the development of China’s socialist market economy has provided a utilitarian foundation for market entities.In organizational settings,employees with Machiavellian traits are more common.In previous studies,Machiavellians,as one of the dark triads,appeared more in terms of negative effects.The innovation of this study is to discuss the specific mechanism of Machiavellians’ positive effects in certain conditions by virtue of the perspective of Dissimilarity-Attraction.In addition,most current studies associate deep-level dissimilarity with negative outcomes,but this study looks at it from a new perspective,that is,from the perspective of Dissimilarity-Attraction,Supervisor’s perceived deep-level dissimilarity with subordinate has more positive interpersonal attraction.This boundary condition can weaken the relationship between Machiavellians and supervisor ostracism through supervisor’s liking.This study uses Victim Precipitation Model to reveal the indirect mechanism between employee Machiavellianism and supervisor ostracism,and examines the moderating role of deep-level dissimilarity from the perspective of Dissimilarity-Attraction.In this study,the questionnaire survey method of matching supervisors and employees was used to collect data at three time points,with each round of surveys spaced 2 months apart,and finally obtained199 valid data.Hypothesis test were performed by using SPSS26.0 and Process plug-in,which verified the research hypothesis proposed.The hypotheses of this study were confirmed: employee Machiavellianism were significantly positively correlated with supervisor ostracism;Supervisor’s liking plays a significant mediating effect in this relationship;Supervisor’s perceived deep-level dissimilarity with subordinate will moderate the relationship between employee Machiavellianism and supervisor’s liking for the focal employee such that the relationship will be positive when supervisor’s perceived deep-level dissimilarity with subordinate is high and will not exist when supervisor’s perceived deep-level dissimilarity with subordinate is low;as well as the moderated mediating effect.Finally,based on the verification results of hypothesis testing,this study summarizes the theorctical contributions and management implications,and points out the research limitations and future development directions.