Countering workplace ostracism: its impact on the psychological well-being of employees with mediation of mindfulness in the IT sector

The mental health of employees plays an important role in the optimal productivity of human resources in the organisation. It is observed that the management of employee mental health is challenging in the modern workplace. Workplace behaviours like ostracism can negatively impact employee well-being and organisational growth. This study examines the role of mindfulness (MFL) in the relationship between workplace ostracism (WO) and the psychological well-being (PWB) of Information Technology (IT) employees in India. Purposive sampling was employed to collect data from participants, N = 403. The data collected from the participants was subjected to partial least squares path modelling for hypothesis testing. The findings demonstrated a significant negative relationship between WO and PWB (r = −0.408, p < 0.001) and MFL (r = −0.204, p < 0.001), respectively. Further, mediation analysis revealed that there are significant indirect (β = −0.087, t = 3.724, p < 0.001) effects of WO in the total effect (β = −0.421, t = 10.015, p < 0.001) of MFL and PWB. This indicates that increased MFL leads to improvement in PWB affected by the level of WO. Social exchange theory and positive organisational behaviour viewpoint support this notion, suggesting the significance of MFL-based WO interventions and policies.