What leads to Ostracism and its consequences : Evidence from the departmental stores of Sweden and Pakistan

Abstract: Ostracism is among vastly researched and discussed psychological phenomena that have been discussed in the workplace context vastly for three decades. As the severity of the issue, employees usually let the discrimination go unnoticed and therefore the cases are not reported. To understand the underlying factors that can result in its initiation, the study examines the factors that cause ostracism. The study explores the contextual environment and the factors that influence or stop the effects of ostracism in the working environment. Moreover, the study argues on the personal outcomes factors which can be the result of stressful working culture and additional workload. The study also explores how different working environment, such as employment opportunity and power distance have a role to play in this scenario. To test the study, the data was collected from the employees and supervisors of the departmental stores in Pakistan and Sweden. The number of respondents for the data was 480 (in total after data screening). As the study had multi structural model, therefore the data was testes with Confirmatory factor analysis and Structural Equation Modelling to measure the effect of different variables on the respondents. The study reveals that the factors reveal the significant effect on the employees of service industries and it results in having negative effects on psychological and health factors of an employee. It also reveals that when these issues are not resolved, employees often intend to leave the organization voluntarily not to be ostracised. Furthermore, the study also discovered insignificant results within the context of employment opportunity due to the spread of the Corona Virus Pandemic (COVID-19). The employees could not be certain about the employment opportunity in the service industry. The study suggests that it is important for services firms especially departmental stores to develop a supportive environment for the employees and allow them to fulfil their need for belongingness by performing better at the workplace.