Linking core self-evaluation and emotional exhaustion with workplace loneliness: does high LMX make the consequence worse?

Abstract

Workplace loneliness has an adverse effect on both the employees and the organizations. Despite it being a pervasive issue, workplace loneliness has received scant attention in the domain of human resource management. To address the gap, we investigated the antecedent (core self-evaluation) and consequence (emotional exhaustion) of workplace loneliness. Results from 1247 professionals from two different occupational groups revealed that workplace loneliness mediates the relationship between core self-evaluation and emotional exhaustion. In addition, we tested the linkage between loneliness and emotional exhaustion among employees having different levels of leader–member exchange (LMX). Contrary to general belief, we found support to our assertion that the relationship between loneliness and emotional exhaustion is severe for employees having higher levels of LMX, compared to their counterparts having lower levels of LMX. Our study offers important implications for theory and practice.

Keywords:

• Core self-evaluation
• emotional exhaustion
• leader–member exchange
• service employees
• workplace loneliness
• two sample

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Economic Survey 2017-18 (2018). An Overview of India’s Economic Performance in 2017-18 (Volume 2, pp 1-27). Government of India, Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs): New Delhi. Accessed on July 03, 2019 from http://mofapp.nic.in:8080/economicsurvey/pdf/001-027_Chapter_01_Economic_Survey_2017-18.pdf.