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Co-worker undermining, emotional exhaustion and organisational commitment: the moderating role of servant leadership

Ahmed Mohammed Sayed Mostafa (Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK)
Suhaer Yunus (Lincoln International Business School, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK)
Wee Chan Au (Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK)
Ziming Cai (Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK)

Journal of Managerial Psychology

ISSN: 0268-3946

Article publication date: 8 May 2023

Issue publication date: 15 May 2023

904

Abstract

Purpose

Not much is known about the conditions under which the negative relationship between co-worker undermining and employee outcomes may wax or wane. This study seeks to address this issue by analysing the role of leadership in mitigating the negative impact of co-worker undermining on employee outcomes. Drawing on expectancy violation theory (EVT), the study proposes that servant leadership will alleviate the association between co-worker undermining, emotional exhaustion and consequently organisational commitment.

Design/methodology/approach

Two-wave time-lagged data were collected from a sample of 345 nurses working under 33 supervisors in a large public hospital in Malaysia. To account for the nested nature of the data, generalised multilevel structural equation modeling (GSEM) in STATA was used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

After controlling for transformational leadership, co-worker undermining was indirectly related to organisational commitment via emotional exhaustion, and this indirect relationship was weaker when servant leadership was high.

Practical implications

Organisations need to invest in interventions that help reduce co-worker undermining and put emphasis on promoting servant leadership.

Originality/value

The study extends the literature by introducing EVT as a new theoretical lens to analyse the consequences of co-worker undermining on employee outcomes. The study also addresses calls for research on the role of leadership in ameliorating the negative consequences of co-worker undermining.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Southeast Asia Community Observatory (Segamat, State of Johor, Malaysia) and the hospital team (anonymous to ensure confidentiality of participants) for their support. The authors also gratefully acknowledge both reviewers for their constructive and valuable feedback on the manuscript. The authors are particularly thankful to Reviewer 1 for recommending the use of expectancy violation theory, which has significantly enhanced the contribution of the paper.

Citation

Mostafa, A.M.S., Yunus, S., Au, W.C. and Cai, Z. (2023), "Co-worker undermining, emotional exhaustion and organisational commitment: the moderating role of servant leadership", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 194-209. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-07-2022-0351

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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