OSTRACISM, SELF-ESTEEM, AND JOB PERFORMANCE: WHEN DO WE SELF-VERIFY AND WHEN DO WE SELF-ENHANCE?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ferris, D. Lance; Lian, Huiwen; Brown, Douglas J.; Morrison, Rachel
• 署名单位: Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park; Hong Kong University of Science & Technology; University of Waterloo
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2011.0347
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 279-297
• 关键词: organizational citizenship behavior; social exclusion; ABUSIVE SUPERVISION; work; contingencies; verification; satisfaction; rejection; deviance; feedback

摘要

Self-esteem level has been positioned as a key mediating mechanism accounting for the effects of ostracism on behaviors, invoking the notion that individuals seek to verify their self-perceptions by behaving in a way that is consistent with those self-perceptions. However, evidence supporting the relation of ostracism and self-esteem level to behavioral outcomes has been mixed. We argue that such mixed effects arise because individuals may engage in behaviors alternately to verify their self-perceptions (suggesting a relation between self-esteem level and behavioral outcomes) or to self-enhance (suggesting no relation between self-esteem level and behavioral outcomes). Within this framing, the question becomes: When do we self-verify and when do we self-enhance? To that end, we position contingent self-esteem-or the extent to which individuals base their self-worth on outcomes in a particular domain-(a)s a determining factor in whether we self-verify or self-enhance, and present a moderated mediation model to account for varying relations between ostracism and job performance. Our predictions regarding self-verification and self-enhancement motivation are fully supported across two field samples using multi-wave, multi-source study designs. Theoretical and practical implications for self-verification and self-enhancement motivation, as well as negative interpersonal behaviors at work, are discussed.