Mitigating effect of perceived organizational support on stress in the presence of workplace ostracism in the Pakistani nursing sector

Abstract

Background

Nursing has a reputation for being a predominantly stressful profession. Prior studies focus on the overt antecedents of stress like bullying, harassment, and verbal aggression from patients as well as colleagues. Employee stress has been receiving attention for decades, yet there is a research gap on the role of workplace ostracism as an antecedent of stress for nurses. This study aimed to consider the effect of workplace ostracism on the perceived stress of nurses while considering the moderating role of perceived organizational support.

Methods

This study is quantitative. A time-lagged survey was conducted in private and public hospitals of Pakistan. Data were collected from 241 nurses. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software and analysis of a moment structures (AMOS) software were employed for data analysis, such as bootstrapping analysis, Sobel test, and regression analysis.

Results

Results demonstrated that workplace ostracism is positively associated with stress, while perceived organizational support has a moderating relationship. Perceived organizational support mitigates the adverse effects of workplace ostracism on nurses.

Conclusion

This study contributes significantly to nursing literature by identifying workplace ostracism as one of the significant antecedents of stress for nurses. Perceived organizational support shows that employees are cared for and appreciated by the organization, which lessens the strength of perceived stress due to workplace ostracism.

Keywords:

• nurses
• stress
• perceived organizational support
• workplace ostracism
• Pakistan

Acknowledgment

The study was funded by the China National Social Science Fund (grant: 18BGL129).

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interests in this work.