Economic Costs of Workplace Exclusion: Implicit Leadership Anti-Prototype Traits in IT Teams

Workplace exclusion remains a pervasive yet underexplored challenge in the information technology (IT) sector, where technically skilled employees are central to digital transformation and organizational competitiveness. While prior studies have primarily examined exclusion as a social or psychological phenomenon, this research investigates how implicit leadership anti-prototypical traits, such as quietness, sensitivity, and low dominance, contribute to exclusion and its consequences for team performance. Drawing on a cross-sectional survey of IT professionals, structural equation modeling was employed to test the mediating roles of psychological safety and team identification and the moderating influence of project complexity. Findings reveal that exclusion significantly reduces team performance by undermining psychological safety and team identification, with effects amplified under high project complexity. Importantly, the study extends current literature by connecting exclusion not only to behavioral outcomes but also to economic costs, including productivity losses, turnover, and inefficiencies, as well as governance challenges related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting. Theoretical contributions lie in bridging psychological and economic perspectives on exclusion, while practical implications highlight the need for IT organizations to develop inclusive leadership practices, systematically monitor exclusion risks, and align human capital strategies with performance and governance objectives.