Workplace ostracism, paranoid employees and service performance: a multilevel investigation

Purpose – Drawing on literature on victim precipitation theory, workplace ostracism, and paranoia, this paper examines the mediating role of workplace ostracism on the paranoia–serviceperformance relationship. This paper further postulates that team cognitive diversity (TCD) moderates the paranoia–workplace-ostracism relationship. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 228 nurses from a leading hospital located in an eastern province of China. Hypotheses developed from the literature were tested using multivariate hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). Findings – Workplace ostracism had a negative effect on service performance, while TCD had a positive effect on workplace ostracism. Cognitive diversity moderated the paranoia–workplace-ostracism relationship, such that the positive relationship was stronger when group diversity was high. Practical implications – In order to avoid ostracism, multiple communication channels must be created to allow employees to voice their feelings in an appropriate format. Originality/value – This paper develops and tests a model exploring the antecedents of workplace ostracism and its effect on service performance.