How and when frontline employees positively cope with supervisor ostracism: An attributional perspective

ABSTRACT

Supervisor ostracism prevails in highly stressful workplace such as hospitality settings. However, the consequences of supervisor ostracism seem disparate. Some frontline employees (FLEs) experience psychological distress and choose to leave their jobs, while others tend to engage in positive behaviors to reshape their social environments. This study provides novel insights into the consequences of supervisor ostracism from a causal explanatory perspective. We propose that ostracized FLEs are likely to adopt the tactics of job crafting and supervisor-focused ingratiation to cope with supervisor ostracism, which subsequently leads to enhanced performance outcomes. Results from a two-wave and multisource survey reveal that FLEs are motivated to craft their jobs when they make internal attribution for supervisor ostracism, which, in turn, promotes their task performance. Furthermore, when FLEs attribute supervisor ostracism to relational factors, they are likely to ingratiate their supervisors, which improves citizenship performance. Contributions to literature and management practice are also addressed.

主管排斥在高压力的工作场景中普通存在，例如接待服务场景中。然而，主管排斥对一线员工的影响效果并不一致。一些一线员工感到心理苦闷，进而选择逃避当前工作，而另一些一线员工则采取积极的行动来改善这种社会环境。本研究从归因理论的角度为主管排斥影响效果的研究提供了一个新颖的视角。本研究提出，被排斥的一线员工会采取工作重塑和逢迎主管两种主动的策略来应对主管排斥，进而表现出更高的绩效结果。根据一个两阶段、多源的问卷调查结果，本研究发现当一线员工对主管排斥做出内部归因时，他们会投入到工作重塑中，并带来更高的任务绩效;当一线员工对主管排斥做出关系归因时，他们会对主管进行逢迎，进而表现出更高的公民绩效。最后，讨论了理论贡献和实践启示。

KEYWORDS:

• Supervisor ostracism
• attribution theory
• job crafting
• supervisor-focused ingratiation
• performance outcomes

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.