Friend or foe in the eyes of the beholder? How and when LMX increases and decreases workplace ostracism
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to build on social comparison theory to develop a theoretical model of leader–member exchange (LMX) relationship to workplace ostracism through perceived organizational status by coworkers and envy. This study further proposes that warmth and competence may potentially moderate these two indirect effects.
Design/methodology/approach
This study tested the hypotheses in a battery manufacturing company located in South China by a survey of 216 employees organized in 55 work teams, using different sources. Additionally, the authors conduct two online vignette experiments to test this study’s mediation, proving the causality.
Findings
The authors found that high-level LMX leads to both envy and perceived organizational status by coworkers, which results in a mixed blessing on workplace ostracism toward the employee with high-level LMX. The focal employee’s warmth and competence moderate these indirect relationships.
Research limitations/implications
The authors use LMX to explore antecedents of workplace ostracism and explain how and when these focal employees suffer workplace ostracism from their coworkers. The authors extend the research on LMX by examining the interpersonal risk of being a focal employee. The authors discover two critical boundary conditions – warmth and competence.
Practical implications
This study suggests that it is important to balance the level of the differential LMX; appropriately endorsing other members is a good way to avoid eliciting envy and opposition. Meanwhile, person-oriented citizenship behaviors such as demonstrations of concern or help may shortly build up an employee’s warm impression on their coworkers.
Originality/value
By discovering the bright and dark sides of LMX, this paper has the potential to advance theories on LMX and workplace ostracism. Therefore, the authors believe the current research will have an important impact on relevant research in the future.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: This research was supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71972109).
Data availability statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Ethics statement: All procedures involving human participants in this study were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all participants before data collection.
Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Citation
Ji, Y., Li, F., Lou, W., Liu, H. and Li, G. (2024), "Friend or foe in the eyes of the beholder? How and when LMX increases and decreases workplace ostracism", Chinese Management Studies, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/CMS-07-2023-0364
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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