Supervisor Ostracism, LMX, Unethical Behavior at Work & Family: Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

This study examines why and when workers become silent when they witness their managers shunning their colleagues. In this research, moral disengagement and leader-member exchange play the moderator roles, while the silent observer may act as a mediator. Two studies conducted among Moroccan textile managers in Morocco are used to evaluate these hypotheses: a longitudinal survey (N=330). The findings show that when workers observe their supervisors excluding other coworkers, they remain silent about unethical behavior. Employees with positive ties with their supervisor are more likely to experience the negative relationship between silent behavior and supervisor ostracism. In addition to establishing mediation moderation insights, this article explains how silence behavior mediates the relationship between a supervisor's ostracism with unethical pro-organizational behavior and unethical pro-family behavior. Also, LMX plays a moderating relationship in supervisor ostracism and silence behavior. Furthermore, moral disengagement moderates the relationship between silence behavior with unethical pro-organizational behavior and unethical pro-family behavior.