Self-protect or revenge? Disabled employees’ psychological and behavioral responses to workplace ostracism: The role of belief in a just world

Abstract

People with disabilities often encounter numerous obstacles in securing and maintaining employment, as well as achieving success in their professional roles. This study initially examined how workplace ostracism influenced self-views and workplace behaviors of disabled employees. More importantly, using belief in a just-world theory as the overarching framework, we further explored whether these linkages were contingent on personal belief in a just world (BJW), which was considered to be a personal contract between the individual and the social world (i.e., the world is fair to me). A total of 1,605 Chinese employees with different categories and degrees of disabilities were invited to participate in an online survey. The results showed that self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between workplace ostracism and workplace deviance. Specifically, workplace ostracism had a detrimental effect on the self-esteem of disabled employees, subsequently leading to engagement in deviant behaviors at work. Furthermore, personal BJW played a moderating role in the links between ostracism, self-esteem, and deviance. When employees with disabilities held stronger BJW, they tended to experience more significant adverse effects of workplace ostracism, resulting in lower self-esteem and increased deviant behaviors. Supporting a first-stage moderated mediation model, the indirect effect of workplace ostracism on deviance through self-esteem was contingent on BJW. This indirect effect was more pronounced when participants exhibited higher levels of BJW. Our findings highlight the importance of fair treatment and the meaningfulness of personal BJW by uncovering diverse response patterns to workplace ostracism among employees with disabilities with varying levels of BJW.