Workplace ostracism and employees' ethical voice: the moderating role of conscientiousness

Purpose Workplace ostracism has emerged as a critical challenge in organizations as it is associated with negative outcomes. This study is based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory to explore how workplace ostracism impacts employees' ethical voice through the mediating role of distrust in top management. This work further investigates the moderating mechanism of conscientiousness in the relationship between workplace ostracism and ethical voice. Design/methodology/approach The study collected data from 467 employees working in the manufacturing sector in Vietnam across three time lags to mitigate the issue of common method bias. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was utilized to test the research hypotheses. Findings The empirical results reveal that a key mechanism that underpins the translation of workplace ostracism into a refusal to speak up about ethical issues is that employees criticize top management for not being trustworthy. Additionally, the results indicate that conscientiousness effectively buffers this detrimental effect. Practical implications The findings suggest that managers should implement effective strategies to minimize workplace ostracism. Additionally, organizations are encouraged to design and provide targeted training programs to enhance employee conscientiousness. Originality/value This paper elucidates the harmful effect of workplace ostracism on employees' willingness to voice ethical concerns, driven by their beliefs that organizational authorities are untrustworthy. Furthermore, it demonstrates how this destructive process can be mitigated when employees possess valuable personal resources.