A SERIAL MEDIATING MODEL OF SENSE OF BELONGINGNESS AND GROUP IDENTIFICATION

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HOW DOES OSTRACISM SHAPE INDIVIDUAL ENERGY AT THE WORKPLACE?

A SERIAL MEDIATING MODEL OF SENSE OF BELONGINGNESS AND GROUP IDENTIFICATION

Master’s thesis, MSc Human Resource Management University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business

February 4, 2018

ANITA ERLINA WAGENAAR Studentnumber: s2188694

Prikkewei 53a 9245 HW Nij Beets

Tel: 0655011907 a.e.wagenaar@student.rug.nl

Supervisor Y. Yuan Co-supervisor

J. de Bloom

Acknowledgement: I would first like to thank my supervisor Ms. Yingjie Yuan for providing me with valuable guidance, feedback, and knowledge during the whole process of writing my thesis.

I am grateful to my family and friends, and especially to my mother, who have all supported

me along the way. This accomplishment would not have been possible without you. Thank you.

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HOW DOES OSTRACISM SHAPE INDIVIDUAL ENERGY AT THE WORKPLACE?

A SERIAL MEDIATING MODEL OF SENSE OF BELONGINGNESS AND GROUP IDENTIFICATION

ABSTRACT

Human energy is receiving more and more attention due to its importance to organizations. This study examines the relationship between ostracism and individual human energy among expatriates in the Netherlands, focused on two different individual energy outcomes: personal and relational energy. Although the effect of ostracism on energy is partially evidenced in the form of personal energy, it remains unclear how such effect occurs. The research question is: ‘How is being ostracized related to personal and relational energy, and how are these relationships influenced by individualism/collectivism?’. The Social Identity Theory is integrated to answer this question, as this theory covers both sense of belongingness and group identification. Firstly, I hypothesize that being ostracized is negatively related to both personal and relational energy. Secondly, I hypothesize these negative relationships to be both mediated by sense of belongingness and group identification. Lastly, I hypothesize that individualism/collectivism acts as a moderator by which individualism alleviates the negative relationships. Therefore, a field study was conducted in which surveys were distributed twice among a sample of 132 expatriates. The results showed that both negative relationships between ostracism and personal energy, and ostracism and relational energy were significantly mediated by sense of belongingness and group identification. However, I did not find a moderating interaction effect for individualism/collectivism. This study contributes to the body of work investigating human energy, because much research has been devoted to its outcomes, but empirical evidence on how ostracism affects energy was still lacking.

Keywords: ostracism, social exclusion, expatriates, sense of belonging, group identification,

social identity, human energy, vigor, relational energy, individualism, collectivism

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INTRODUCTION

Human energy in the workplace is a relatively new and emerging topic. It is receiving more attention due to the fact that it provides a sustainable and prominent solution to organizations, and the fact that it is crucial for employees’ well-being. Energy can be best defined as an organizational resource that increases employees their eagerness and capability to act, to do their work and achieve their goals (Owens et al., 2016; Quinn & Dutton, 2005).

Energy is crucial for the organizational functioning, since it is related to many positive outcomes, like: motivation, physical and mental health, job performance, and job satisfaction (Shirom, 2011). This means that a lack of energy will consequently have implications for employees and subsequently for organizations, such as: burnouts, or stress (Owens et al., 2016).

This study focuses on two main types of human energy outcomes: personal energy and relational energy. Personal energy can be defined as the positive feelings people experience, such as vitality, enthusiasm, and vigor, and it can be felt in the form of emotions, moods, or dispositions (Quinn et al., 2012). Relational energy is the energy an individual receives through interpersonal interaction (Owens et al., 2016). Moreover, labor unions are paying more attention to energy as a new cure to job burnouts and stress, while ostracism has serious consequences and could be one of the reasons of stress and burnouts. Although it is already known that factors like positive affect and extraversion are positively related to energy, research about its antecedents is still scant and they still fail to recognize how the daily phenomenon ‘ostracism’

could be deteriorating. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to fill the human energy research gap by focusing on its antecedent ‘ostracism’, and how this affects individual energy.

Williams (2007) defines ostracism as an occurrence in which an individual or group is

being ignored and excluded, often without any good explanation. Ostracism has consequences

at both the intrapersonal and interpersonal level. It has an intrapersonal influence on the

ostracized person in a way that the person experiences a lot of pain (Williams & Nida, 2011).

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It makes the person feel sad or angry, and it threatens human fundamental needs (Williams, 2007). People are interpersonally influenced since they are less likely to exhibit prosocial behavior when feeling excluded (Twenge et al., 2007). Given the practical significance, it is shown that there is no empirical evidence for the negative relationships between ostracism and personal energy, and ostracism and relational energy. Thus, the research question is:

How is ostracism related to personal energy? And how is ostracism related to relational energy?

Although research about human energy’s antecedents is scant, it is already clear that people who are experiencing pain may have a depletion of energy as a result (Christian et al., 2015). It can be argued that employees’ personal energy will also decrease when they are being ostracized, since ostracism equals pain. Furthermore, it is expected that ostracized employees are less likely to express relational energy, due to the lack of stimulating and emotive interaction. Ostracized persons namely experience negative feelings, like sadness and anger, and are less likely to exhibit prosocial behavior (Owens et al., 2016; Twenge et al., 2007).

Therefore, ostracism and relational energy will be negatively related.

The Social Identity Theory is employed to address the research questions, and the serial

mediators ‘sense of belongingness’ and ‘group identification’ will be explored to see how they

are connected. Sense of belongingness is the extent to which the individual feels valued,

accepted, liked and cared about (O’Reilly et al., 2014; Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Group

identification is the personal cognitive connection that an individual may have, hence feels

oneness with the group (Riordan & Weatherly, 1999). Several studies showed that ostracism

negatively affects sense of belongingness (O’Reilly et al., 2014; Williams et al., 2000), and

since sense of belongingness and group identification are closely related, it is expected that it

consequently lowers group identification. Low group identification is associated with negative

feelings and emotions (Ashforth & Mael, 1989), thus would decrease human energy.

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Moreover, individuals all have different experiences and are impacted differently, and culture plays a significant role in it. One of the most important studies concerning individualism/collectivism is the one conducted by Geert Hofstede. Previous study showed that collectivism more directly concerns group identification (Roccas et al., 2008), and that social exclusion has a stronger negative effect on collectivists because of the importance of social bonds (Over & Uskul, 2016; Triandis, 2001). Collectivists prioritize group goals whereas individualists prioritize personal goals, as a result that group identification may mean more to collectivists. Individualism/collectivism is likely to influence the relationship between ostracism and energy, in which individualists would be less negatively affected by low sense of belongingness and low group identification, and it is therefore introduced as the moderator.

This study aims to fill the human energy research gap by the following research questions:

1. How is being ostracized related to personal and relational energy?

2. How are these relationships influenced by individualism/collectivism?

Even though ostracism usually happens without any good reason, people are more likely to get rejected when they differ in one or more characteristics from the group (Wright et al., 1986). One important characteristic that can be looked at is: ethnicity (Vervoort et al., 2010), and therefore this research focuses on expatriates in the Netherlands since they are more likely to be ostracized. Almost 22 per cent of the Dutch population is non-Dutch, and expatriates form a great part of the work environment (CBS). An expatriate is a person that stays abroad for a longer period of time with a purpose of working there (CBS). Due to expatriates having a large share in the work environment, ostracism is more likely to occur, and due to their great value for companies (CBS) this phenomenon needs to be researched.

This study makes several contributions. First it extends the human energy literature

among expatriates by investigating the relationship between ostracism and individual energy in

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a field setting. Even though it is known that ostracism has a negative impact on personal energy, there is still little known about the effect of ostracism on relational energy and how both relationships are explained by the Social Identity Theory. Second, individualism/collectivism will investigate whether it has an influence on the relationship between ostracism and human energy, and whether it gives different outcomes. Third, from a practical standpoint, this study helps managers to get a better understanding of expatriates being susceptible to ostracism, and what impact this has on their energy. Expatriates’ competencies and knowledge are essential for gaining a competitive advantage, and it is therefore important to keep them energized. The results of this study provide solutions for managers that could help them to integrate the expatriates, make them work closely together, and eventually improve their energy levels.

This study is structured as follows. The second section will offer a theoretical model that examines the relationship between ostracism and human energy by means of sense of belongingness and group identification, and how individualism/collectivism acts as a moderator in this relationship. The third section will present the methodology, followed by the results in the fourth section. Next, the findings will be discussed and interpreted. The theoretical and managerial implications, limitations of the research, and future research suggestions will be provided in this same section. Lastly, the sixth section provides the conclusion.

THEORY AND HYPOTHESES Individual Energy: Personal Energy and Relational Energy

Quinn, Spreitzer and Lam (2012) state that human energy can often not be defined

explicitly, and they therefore identify two core definitions to get a better understanding of

personal human energy, which are: physical energy and energetic activation. This study focuses

on energetic activation and will therefore not further discuss physical energy. Energetic

activation is the degree to which people feel energized (Quin et al., 2012). Energy can be

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experienced as positive feelings of vitality, excitement, enthusiasm and vigor, and can be felt in the form of emotions: which are for a short period of time, moods: for a longer period of time, or dispositions: which are enduring tendencies (Quinn et al., 2012). Besides, energy increases people their eagerness and capability to act (Quinn & Dutton, 2005).

Relational energy is a ‘heightened level of psychological resourcefulness’ derived from interpersonal interactions, and this psychological resourcefulness includes motivation, stamina, vitality and vigor that increase the capacity to perform (Owens, Baker, Sumpter & Cameron, 2016). In other words: it is an interpersonal interaction in which an individual receives human energy from another individual, generated and shared contagiously among each other. These theoretical findings are supported by the Social Contagion Theory that focuses on spreading stimuli, like emotions, from one person to other persons (Owens et al., 2016). Spreading positive emotions will positively influence the working behavior, such as better cooperation between the employees and less conflicts at the workplace (Owens et al., 2016).

As aforementioned, several factors are already known for contributing to energy.

Firstly, antecedents for feeling vigorous are: meaningful interactions with others, coping with job challenges, and achieving success (Shraga & Shirom, 2009). Moreover, feelings such as happiness and satisfaction (positive affect) make people more social, active and energetic (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). Secondly, factors that contribute to relational energy are:

extraversion and positive affect. Extraverted people are good in talking and socializing, and their interaction partners can get enthusiasm, pleasure, and energy from them. Therefore, extraversion is positively related to relational energy (Cullen-Lester et al., 2016). Besides the fact that affect occurs intrapsychically, it influences their interaction partners as well in a way that emotions are shared or transferred from one person to the other group members (Barsade

& Gibson, 2007). So far, it is known that energy mainly originates from affective states and

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meaningful interactions. However, other types of interaction or anti-interaction such as ostracism is a common phenomenon at work, but has not been studied in energy literature yet.

Ostracism

To explain the theoretical model of what the effect of ostracism is on human energy, it is essential to know what exactly ostracism is and when it occurs. As stated before, ostracism can be best defined as the extent to which an individual or a group is being ignored and excluded by one or more persons, and it often happens without any good reason or explanation (Williams, 2007). It is being experienced for instance when the person’s greeting to his or her colleagues is being ignored, or when the person is being excluded from invitations for a social event. In these situations the person is being ignored and excluded, and we as human beings experience a lot of pain from that (Williams, 2007; O’Reilly et al., 2014).

Ostracism is known for its serious consequences, and it has both an intrapersonal and

an interpersonal influence. Concerning the intrapersonal consequences, brief exposure to

ostracism leads to immediate responses of distress and pain, like moods as sadness and anger,

or hurt feelings. Besides, it will threaten fundamental needs: belonging, self-esteem, control

and meaningful existence as well (Williams, 2007). Pain makes us often think of a physical

injury or a verbal insult, nonetheless, being ignored and excluded is also being felt as pain and

this is referred to as social pain (Williams & Nida, 2011). The brain namely triggers some of

the same neurocognitive functions for social pain as it does for physical pain (Eisenberger et

al., 2003). Moreover, previous neuroscience evidence showed that suffering from pain will lead

to heavy blood flow and brain activity. Employees experiencing pain will use a lot of energy

for regulating their pain, and this will consequently reduce the energy resources they have left

for doing their work (Christian et al., 2015; Quinn et al., 2012).

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Hence, regarding this intrapersonal influence, which corresponds to personal energy, ostracism decreases immediate positive feelings and emotions, and increases negative feelings and emotions (Williams, 2009) while, positive feelings such as happiness and satisfaction are needed in order to feel personally energized. The main negative responses of ostracism are distress and pain, and this results into a depletion of energy (Christian et al., 2015). This depletion means lower personal energy, and due to all the negative feelings, moods, and emotions, the first hypothesis is as follows:

Hypothesis 1a. Ostracism will be negatively related to personal energy.

Furthermore, other consequences of ostracism may occur at the interpersonal level.

Being ostracized could lead to a variety of responses such as prosocial thoughts and behaviors:

desire to be liked and to get re-included, as well as antisocial thoughts and behaviors: aggression or fleeing the situation (Williams, 2007). Whether the ostracized person will exhibit prosocial or antisocial behavior, highly depends on several factors such as personality and situational factors. However, being ostracized is most likely to result into aggression, thus exhibit antisocial behavior (Williams, 2007). This statement is consistent with Twenge et al. (2007) their findings that people are less likely to exhibit prosocial behavior, such as helping and cooperating, when they feel like they are being excluded. This because prosocial behavior is likely to occur when a person believes he or she is part of a group in which people have mutual positive feelings for each other, and where they want to help and support each other. In a situation in which the person is being excluded, he or she won’t experience such mutual positive feelings much, with a reduction in prosocial behavior as a result (Twenge et al., 2007).

Since human energy can be derived from interpersonal interactions (Owens et al., 2016),

it corresponds to the interpersonal influence. In order to energize the other group members, it

is important that this interaction partner is stimulating and emotive, which means that he or she

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should experience positive feelings like vigor, excitement, happiness, and satisfaction since these stimuli are contagious (Owens et al., 2016; Lyubomirsky et al., 2005). On the other hand, this also means that negative stimuli, which come together with ostracism, are contagious. A person that is being ostracized, experience feelings like anger and sadness. Therefore, interacting with this person may lower the group members’ energy as well. Looking at the interpersonal consequences of ostracism, employees being ostracized by their group member(s) are most likely to exhibit antisocial behavior such as aggression. Thus, when group members interact with this ostracized person, they won’t get energized by this negativity but they may even get deenergized. Therefore, the following hypothesis will be:

Hypothesis 1b. Ostracism will be negatively related to relational energy.

The serial mediators: Sense of Belongingness and Group Identification

The influence of ostracism on personal and relational energy can be explained by the Social Identity Theory, which is introduced as the overarching theory for explaining the link between sense of belongingness and group identification. Ostracism may change the perception of social groupings, which sequentially alters the extent to which people feel energized by their social interactions. According to the Social Identity Theory, people are tended to divide themselves and others into groups, also called ‘categories’ (Ashfort & Mael, 1989). This process of categorizing comes from the self-categorization theory, which is an essential part of the Social Identity Theory. These theories suggest that a person is aware of his or her belonging to a certain group and the self is based on his or her group membership, or in other words: the group the person identifies with, determines who this person is (Hogg & Terry, 2000).

Once everyone is divided into a certain category, people tend to compare their own

group (ingroup) with the other groups (outgroup). For this comparison they favor their ingroup

over the outgroup, they look at the similarities between their own group members, and look at

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the differences between them and the people of the outgroup (Hogg & Terry, 2000; Hogg et al., 1995). However, sometimes people may fall within a group they do not have similarities with.

For instance, an expatriate working for a company in the Netherlands who has been assigned to a team he or she does not have many similarities with. Several factors are suggested to contribute to the tendency of identification with a group, and these factors are: interpersonal interaction, similarity and liking (Ashforth & Mael, 1989).

Therefore, a direct consequence of being ostracized is the altered perception of social grouping. This can be captured by the notion of the first mediator ‘sense of belongingness’.

Sense of belongingness subjectively derives from the need to belong, which is one of the most fundamental needs that people have. It is a requirement for security, success, and mental health (O’Reilly et al., 2014; Williams, 2007). Sense of belongingness can be best defined as the extent to which the individual feels valued, accepted, liked and cared about by others (O’Reilly et al., 2014; Baumeister & Leary, 1995). An employee being ostracized does not feel connected to that person or group anymore. This person is not included into discussions or social events for instance, or simply said: he or she is no longer attended to, looked at, or even being considered (Williams, 2009). Prior studies showed that there exists a clear connection between being ostracized and sense of belongingness, in a way that ostracism diminishes sense of belongingness (Williams et al., 2000; Williams, 2007; O’Reilly et al., 2014).

Such perception of belongingness further leads people to redefine their social grouping identifications. Therefore, ‘group identification’ is introduced as the second mediator, which is derived from the Social Identity Theory. It is referred to as a cognitive connection that a person has with the group (Riordan & Weatherly, 1999). This cognitive connection means that the person feels oneness with this particular group and therefore perceives the group’s outcomes, like its successes and failures, as his or her own outcomes (Ashforth & Mael, 1989; Riordan &

Weatherly, 1999). Group identification is a process by which an individual ascribes to him- or

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herself the attributes (e.g. characteristics) of the identified group (Riordan & Weatherly, 1999).

In line with these theoretical findings, Ashforth and Mael (1989) state that in order to identify with a group, an individual needs to perceive him-or herself as psychologically intertwined with the fate of the group. This means that the interpersonal relationships between the group members should be good and satisfying for feeling oneness with the group (Lee et al., 2011).

Since the literature of sense of belongingness and group identification is closely related, sense of belongingness can be seen as a close predictor of group identification. I therefore propose that low sense of belongingness will have a negative effect on group identification.

Namely, most important conditions for feeling identified with the group are: feeling a personal cognitive connection (‘oneness’) with the group and having good interpersonal relationships with the group members (Riordan & Weatherly, 1999; Lee et al., 2011). This matches with the literature of sense of belongingness in which the person feels accepted, valued and liked.

However, social exclusion lowers sense of belongingness, which consequently results in a lack of feeling oneness, and this will therefore lower identification with the group.

Researchers have found that belonging to groups has many positive effects, especially on people their well-being. Having social relationships is associated with positive emotions and it results in feelings of happiness (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). However, low group identification means that the person does not feel oneness with the group and does not have many satisfying relationships with the group members, hence he or she does not feel happy within the group and experience many negative feelings and emotions. In order to be active and energized, feelings such as happiness and satisfaction need to be felt, and it is therefore assumed that low group identification will negatively affect personal energy. The hypothesis will be:

Hypothesis 2a. The negative relationship between being ostracized and personal energy

will be mediated by both sense of belongingness and group identification, in a way that

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ostracism results in lower sense of belongingness and sequentially a loss of group identity, which eventually leads to low levels of personal energy.

Relational energy derives from interpersonal interactions and covers the following characteristics: the person wants to cheer up the group members, share good news, inspire, stimulate, and motivate others. Moreover, his or her emotions and mood are contagious. All these actions derive from group identification, since a high identifier is more likely to contribute to the group’s outcomes. A high identifier wants best for the group and wants the others to develop, whereas a low identifier will have the exact opposite and will be less likely to express relational energy. A low identifier will experience negative affect and does not act in the interest of the group, thus is less willing to act cooperatively. Since emotions and mood are contagious (Owens et al., 2016), these negative feelings will be shared and transferred as well.

Hypothesis 2b. The negative relationship between being ostracized and relational energy will be mediated by both sense of belongingness and group identification, in a way that ostracism results in lower sense of belongingness and sequentially a loss of group identity, which eventually decreases the likelihood of expressing relational energy.

The moderating role of Individualism/Collectivism

The explanation of the Social Identity Theory depends on whether people value group bonds in their social life, therefore individualism/collectivism is introduced as the moderator.

Individualists have different experiences and they may react differently to the loss of social

bonds than collectivists. Individualism can be best defined by the concepts autonomy and

independency. People highly value to be autonomous and independent, they prefer to attain

their personal goals over the group goals, and their acts and behavior are based on their own

attitudes which are more important for them than the group norms (Triandis, 2001). Hofstede

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and Bond (1984) define it as a culture in which ‘people are supposed to look after themselves and their immediate family only, whereas a collectivistic culture is exactly the opposite: ‘people belong to in-groups or collectivities which are supposed to look after them in exchange for loyalty’ (Hofstede & Bond, 1984). Where individualists prefer to attain their own personal goals, collectivists prefer to attain their group goals. Moreover, collectivists mainly behave according the group norms and values instead of acting according their own attitudes, and they act interdependent of each other within the group (Triandis, 2001).

Individualism/collectivism is expected to have an impact on the negative relationships between ostracism and personal energy, and ostracism and relational energy. First, both relationships mediated by sense of belongingness will be discussed. As stated earlier, sense of belongingness can be best defined by the extent to which an individual feels valued, accepted, liked, and cared about (O’Reilly et al., 2014; Baumeister & Leary, 1995), and this highly corresponds to the collectivistic culture in which people care about others and their group goals.

Namely, social bonds and interdependency are of great importance to collectivists, whereas individualists value independency and autonomy more (Over & Uskul, 2016; Triandis, 2001).

Since ostracism results into lower sense of belongingness, it is expected that individualists would respond less negatively to low sense of belongingness compared to collectivists. This because individualists highly value autonomy and independency, thus they may care less about the relationships at the workplace, and they therefore would be harmed less. Theoretical evidence was found for the fact that low sense of belongingness leads to lower personal and relational energy. So based on theoretical findings, the hypotheses concerning the mediator sense of belongingness will be:

Hypothesis 3a. The indirect effect of ostracism on personal energy via sense of

belongingness is moderated by individualism in the second stage, such that it alleviates

the negative relationship.

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Hypothesis 3b. The indirect effect of ostracism on relational energy via sense of belongingness is moderated by individualism in the second stage, such that it alleviates the negative relationship.

Now that the relationships between ostracism and personal energy, and ostracism and relational energy are discussed by the mediator sense of belongingness, the next hypotheses are regarding the mediator group identification. Just like ostracism will result into lower sense of belongingness, it is also expected that ostracism will result into lower group identification.

Group identification is being referred to as a cognitive connection that a person has with the group (Riordan & Weatherly, 1999). However, when a person is being excluded and ignored by colleagues, it would consequently harm the person’s cognitive connection with this group, and ostracism will therefore lead to low group identification. With regard to the influence of individualism/collectivism on group identification, collectivists will be more negatively impacted by low group identification than individualists. This because collectivism directly concerns group identification (Roccas et al., 2008), which means that low group identification would harm them more. As discussed before, theoretical evidence was also found for lower levels of personal and relational energy when group identification is low. Therefore, the following hypotheses will be:

Hypothesis 3c. The indirect effect of ostracism on personal energy via group identification is moderated by individualism in the second stage, such that it alleviates the negative relationship.

Hypothesis 3d. The indirect effect of ostracism on relational energy via group

identification is moderated by individualism in the second stage, such that it alleviates

the negative relationship.

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17 CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Ostracism

Individualism

Sense of Belonging Group Identification

Personal Energy

Relational Energy

- - -

-

Control Variables:

•

Personality

•

Self-esteem

•

Gender

18 METHODS

Procedure and Sample

In order to test the hypotheses, I conducted a field study in the Netherlands. Two surveys were distributed among employees who are working and living in the Netherlands as expatriates. The survey was strictly confidential and voluntary, and was distributed twice in order to avoid a common source bias.

I used two different approaches for collecting the first wave data, namely by using Facebook and the organization Connect International in Groningen. Many Facebook pages are specifically made for expatriates in the Netherlands to provide them with information and help, and I therefore posted my request and link of the survey on these pages to reach as many expatriates as possible. Additionally, I approached the general manager of Connect International face-to-face to ask her to support this project. Connect International is a non-profit organization that aims to help, advice, and inform internationals who are coming to live in the Dutch northern provinces. The general manager forwarded the e-mail with the link of the survey to all expatriates from Connect International, and they were asked to fill in an online survey, made and shared by the platform ‘Qualtrics’. Furthermore, I sent the second survey to the participants by e-mail two weeks after they had filled in the first one.

A total of 132 expatriates completed both surveys and no information was missing. Of

these 132 expatriates, 38 of them were male and 94 female, and the average age was 33.33 years

(standard deviation=9.30). Of all expatriates, 5 have a High school diploma or equivalent, 7 did

some college but do not have a degree, 29 have a Bachelor’s degree, 70 a Master’s degree, and

21 a Doctoral or Professional degree. Most of the expatriates were American, Italian, British,

French and Spanish. Moreover, 65.2 per cent was from an individualistic culture, and 34.8 per

cent from a collectivistic culture.

19 Measures

Ostracism. For measuring the independent variable ‘ostracism’, I used ten out of thirteen items

that were based on Ferris, Brown, Berry and Lian (2008) their measure. Excluding three items was beneficial for increasing the variance of the scale (Ferris et al., 2008). Ferris et al. (2008) found that these three items could be removed in order to increase the variance of the scale, and this could be done without sacrificing content coverage. The respondents had to rate each item on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1, ‘never’ to 7, ‘always’. Examples of these statements are: ‘I involuntarily sat alone in a crowded lunchroom at work’; ‘My group members shut me out of the conversation’, and its Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.85.

Individualism/Collectivism. The moderator ‘individualism/collectivism’ was measured with

the following question: ‘What is your nationality?’. Subsequently, I used Geert Hofstede’s 6-D Model, which consists of six dimensions developed for understanding the countries’ national cultures. One of these dimensions is individualism/collectivism, and the 6-D model shows how much each country scores on the individualism-collectivism dimension. This score indicates whether a country is an individualistic or a collectivistic society. I used a dichotomous scale in which an individualistic country was coded by ‘1’ and a collectivistic country by ‘2’.

Sense of Belongingness. I measured the mediator ‘sense of belongingness’ with twelve items

on a seven-point scale ranging from 1, ‘strongly disagree’ to 7, ‘strongly agree’. The statements were based on all five items of the belongingness measurement from Van Beest and Williams (2006), and on seven items of the social connectedness measurement from Lee and Robbins (1995), which originally consisted of eight items. One item ‘Even among my friends, there is no sense of brother/sisterhood’ was excluded, since it was not relevant for the workplace.

Including this item might have reduced the overall variability of the scale and might have

limited predicting the outcomes (Ferris et al., 2008). All used items had together a Cronbach’s

Alpha of 0.94. An item based on the measure from Van Beest and & Williams (2006) is: ‘I feel

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as one with the other group members’, and an item based on the measure from Lee and Robbins (1995) is: ‘I don’t feel related to any of my group members’ (reverse coded).

Group Identification. The nine items used for measuring the second mediator ‘group

identification’ were all adapted from the entire scale of Hogg and Hains’ (1996) past research.

They were rated on a five-point scale ranging from 1, ‘Not at all’ to 5, ‘Extremely’, and its Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.90. Sample items are: ‘How well do you feel you fit into the group?’;

‘How much do you identify with the group?’.

Personal Energy. In order to measure the dependent variable ‘personal energy’, I asked

fourteen statements regarding the participants’ own energy. Therefore, the entire measurement scale for productive energy from Cole and Bruch (2012) was used and adapted, which consists of three different dimensions, namely: the affective (5 items), cognitive (5 items) and behavioral dimension (4 items). The Cronbach’s Alphas for the different dimensions were the following:

affective α=0.94, cognitive α=0.59, and behavioral α=0.65. Sample items include: ‘I feel excited in my job’ (affective); ‘I am mentally alert’ (cognitive); ‘I often work extremely long hours without complaining’ (behavioral). They were all rated on a seven-point scale ranging from 1,

‘strongly disagree’ to 7, ‘strongly agree’, and its overall Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.87.

Relational Energy. I divided the eleven items for measuring the second dependent variable

‘relational energy’ into three different dimensions: emotional energy (adopted from Shirom’s 4-item Emotional Energy scale, 2004), interpersonal influence (4 items) and apparent sincerity (3 items). Both interpersonal influence and apparent sincerity were adapted from Ferris et al., 2005. All items used for measuring these three dimensions were the entire measurements. Again a seven-point Likert scale was used ranging from 1, ‘strongly disagree’ to 7, ‘strongly agree’, and its overall Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.89. The Cronbach’s Alpha for each separate dimension was: emotional energy α=0.85, interpersonal influence α=0.88, and apparent sincerity α=0.68.

Sample items are: ‘I feel able to show warmth to my group members’ (emotional energy); ‘I am

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good at getting group members to like me’ (interpersonal influence); ‘I try to show a genuine interest in my group members’ (apparent sincerity).

Control Variables. In order to attain valid results, this study had the following personality traits

controlled: extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and emotional stability, since they could influence the end results. Extraversion is likely to positively impact human energy, since extraverted people are full of energy and can easily make their interaction partners enthusiastic and energetic (Cullen-Lester et al., 2016). Furthermore, it is known that people high in agreeableness are: flexible, generous, sympathetic, cooperative, and helpful (Burke &

Witt, 2004). Since relational energy is about receiving energy from others, being cooperative and helpful are important characteristics to make this happen. Thus, agreeableness is expected to be positively correlated to relational energy. Emotional stability is associated with positive feelings and emotions, whereas the opposite ‘neuroticism’ is associated with negative feelings and emotions. I therefore expected emotional stability to have a positive effect on personal and relational energy.

Personality was measured by using the brief measurement of the Big Five personality dimensions from Gosling, Rentfrow & Swann (2003), which consisted of 10 items. Sample items are: ‘I see myself as extraverted, enthusiastic’ (extraversion); ‘I see myself as sympathetic, warm’ (agreeableness). They were all rated on a seven-point scale from 1, ‘strongly disagree’

to 7, ‘strongly agree’, and it gave the following Cronbach’s Alphas: extraversion α=0.69, openness to experience α=0.36, agreeableness α=0.20, and emotional stability α=0.65.

Analytical Approach

To statistically examine the hypotheses, I analyzed the collected data in SPSS. First, I

used the Pearson correlation analysis to analyze all the separate relationships: ostracism and

personal energy, ostracism and relational energy, ostracism and sense of belongingness, sense

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of belongingness and group identification, group identification and personal energy, and lastly, group identification and relational energy. I took a look at all these relationships separately to see whether the two variables were related or not.

Second, I used a Linear Regression analysis to test whether there existed significant negative relationships between ostracism and personal energy, and between ostracism and relational energy. Third, for testing the second hypothesis I used a Regression analysis (Process, model 6: a serial mediating model) to see whether both relationships between ostracism and personal energy, and ostracism and relational energy could be explained by means of the serial mediators sense of belongingness and group identification.

Lastly, another Regression analysis was used (Process, model 14: a moderated mediation model with second stage being moderated) to check whether the moderator individualism/collectivism had an effect on the relationships between ostracism and personal energy, and ostracism and relational energy. For testing these hypotheses, the serial mediators were split up into two separate mediators. To see whether all relationships were influenced by individualism/collectivism, I first tested the relationships between ostracism and personal energy, and ostracism and relational energy, both mediated by sense of belongingness. Next, I tested the relationships between ostracism and personal energy, and ostracism and relational energy, both mediated by group identification.

Data Cleaning

First wave. The survey for the first wave started September 27, 2017 and ended October 13,

2017, and a total of 217 respondents participated. I first checked the data file to see whether there were any missing data. However, only missing data were found for the age question:

namely 2 out of 217 respondents refused or forgot to answer this question. Furthermore, since

the survey asked for their e-mail address twice, I needed to combine these e-mail addresses so

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that it would give me one correct column of all given e-mail addresses. Of all 217 respondents I gathered, 191 of them filled in their e-mail address.

Some of the items were reverse coded, namely of the mediator ‘sense of belongingness’

the items: 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 , 11 and 12, and of the control variable ‘self-esteem’ the items: 2, 5, 6, 8 and 9 and ‘personality’: 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. Statements for these particular variables were all rated on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1, ‘strongly disagree’, to 7, ‘strongly agree’, but since they were reversed they needed to be recoded. Therefore, 1 became 7, 26, 35, 44, 53, 62, and 71. Lastly, to eventually combine the data sets of wave 1 and wave 2, these files needed to be merged. Therefore, a key variable was needed to match each record. In this case the matching variable was the e-mail address, and it was sorted in ascending order.

Second wave. The survey for the second wave started October 16, 2017 and ended October 31,

2017. I used Qualtrics for sending e-mails to all 191 respondents, and this eventually left me with a valid total of 132 respondents. Since Qualtrics gave me other values for the scales than I had for the first survey, the first step was to correct these of all items. Instead of 1 ‘strongly disagree’ to 7 ‘strongly agree’, the data set mostly had values like 8 ‘strongly disagree’ to 14

‘strongly agree’. Besides that all these items needed to be recoded, again the items of ‘sense of belongingness’ (3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 , 11 and 12), ‘self-esteem’ (2, 5, 6, 8 and 9) and ‘personality’

(2, 4, 6, 8 and 10) had to be reversed for this second survey.

I also needed to check this second data set for any missing data. However, no missing data were found among the 132 respondents. In order to merge both data sets (wave 1 + wave 2), the matching key variable ‘e-mail address’ had to be sorted in ascending order. This way all values for both surveys were correctly matched with the person’s e-mail address.

Merged data set. After merging both data files, I computed the means for both waves for the

following variables: ostracism, sense of belongingness, group identification, personal energy,

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relational energy, and self-esteem. Concerning the control variable personality, I took the mean scores for each Big Five Personality trait separately (extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience, agreeableness, and emotional stability) since each item indicated a different personality trait. The moderator individualism/collectivism was measured with the question:

‘What is your nationality?’, and I used Geert Hofstede’s 6-D Model to indicate whether the expatriate was from an individualistic or a collectivistic society. Individualism was coded by

‘1’ and collectivism by ‘2’.

RESULTS

Correlations

All the correlations between the control, independent, mediator, moderator, and dependent variables can be found in the correlation table (table 1). It was expected that the independent variable ‘ostracism’ and mediator 1 ‘sense of belongingness’ are positively correlated, and as can be seen in the table there does indeed exist a significant positive correlation between these variables. Also both mediators ‘sense of belongingness’ and ‘group identification’ were significantly and highly positive correlated. Lastly, both relationships between group identification and personal energy, and group identification and relational energy were significantly and positively correlated. Therefore, all expectations concerning these most important relationships were confirmed.

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Insert Table 1 about here

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25 Regression Analyses

I used Regression analyses for testing all eight hypotheses, and the results are presented below. More detailed results can be found in tables 2, 3, 4 and 5. The control variables gender, self-esteem and personality trait ‘conscientiousness’ were left out, because of insignificant relationships with the dependent variables personal energy and relational energy.

Hypothesis 1a was not supported. For the first hypothesis, a negative relationship between ostracism and personal energy was found (b=-0.12, t=-0.91). This does correspond to the theoretical findings that the negative feelings caused by ostracism, will result into lower personal energy. R² was 0.18, and ΔR² was 0.01, which means that an additional 1 per cent accounts for variance in the outcomes when all personality variables were controlled. However, this negative relationship was not significant (p=0.36, 95%, CI [-0.38, 0.14]), and therefore the first hypothesis was not supported.

Hypothesis 1b was supported. It was expected that when group members are interacting with an ostracized colleague, they may get deenergized by this person, which means that ostracism results into lower relational energy. According to the results, a negative and significant relationship was found between ostracism and relational energy (b=-0.45, t=-4.39, p=0.00, 95% CI [-0.65, -0.25]), with a R² of 0.29 and ΔR² of 0.11. This means an additional 11 per cent of the variance in the dependent variable ‘relational energy’ was explained by the control variables. Therefore, the second hypothesis was supported and this means that being ostracized does indeed result into lower levels of relational energy.

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Insert Table 2 about here

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Hypothesis 2a was supported. As stated earlier, ostracism diminishes sense of belongingness in a way that an ostracized employee does not feel connected to that one person or to the group anymore. Since sense of belongingness is a close predictor of group identification, low sense of belongingness consequently leads to low group identification. These theories were supported by my findings: ostracism and sense of belongingness were significantly and negatively related (b=-1.13, t=-7.39, p=0.00, 95% CI [-1.43, -0.83]), and sense of belongingness and group identification were significantly related as well (b=0.37, t=8.02, p=0.00, 95% CI [0.28, 0.46]). Moreover, it is known that low group identification is related to negative feelings and emotions, and this will negatively affect personal energy. This study also showed a positive relationship between group identification and personal energy (b=0.38, t=2.84, p=0.01, 95% CI [0.11, 0.64], which means that low group identification leads to lower personal energy. The results showed that the negative relationship between ostracism and personal energy was indeed mediated by both sense of belongingness and group identification (b=-0.16) and this relationship was significant (95% CI [-0.33, -0.04]). The overall model fit is R²=0.37. Therefore, the hypothesis was supported.

Hypothesis 2b was supported. It was found that the negative relationship between ostracism and

relational energy was also mediated by both sense of belongingness and group identification

(b=-0.14, 95% CI [-0.30, -0.03]). As discussed for hypothesis 2a, the results showed that

ostracism leads to low sense of belongingness, and this subsequently results into low group

identification. As aforementioned, a low identifier experiences negative affect and is less

willing to act cooperatively. Since emotions and mood are contagious, these negative feelings

will be shared and transferred, with low relational energy as a result. This does correspond to

my findings that group identification and relational energy were significantly and positively

related (b=0.34, t=3.52, p=0.00, 95% CI [0.15, 0.53]), which means that high group

identification results into high relational energy and the other way around: low group

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identification results into low relational energy. Moreover, ostracism explained 52 per cent of variance in relational energy by the serial mediators sense of belongingness and group identification, R²=0.52. Therefore hypothesis 2b was supported.

--- Insert Table 3 about here ---

Hypothesis 3a was not supported. It was expected that expatriates from a collectivistic culture would react more negatively to low sense of belongingness than expatriates would from an individualistic culture. The results showed that individualism/collectivism did indeed act as a moderator in the mediated relationship between ostracism and personal energy via sense of belongingness, since an interaction effect was found on personal energy (b=-0.23, t=-2.04, p=0.04). R² was 0.36, meaning the model explained 36 per cent of the variation in personal energy. However, individualism (b=-0.54) enhanced this negative relationship more than collectivism (b=-0.28). So, even though significant effects were found for the moderated mediation effect (95% CI [0.02, 0.59]), the hypothesis was not supported because it was expected that individualism would alleviate the mediated negative relationship.

Hypothesis 3b was not supported. With the mediator sense of belongingness, no

significant moderated mediation effect was found for the relationship between ostracism and

relational energy (95% CI [-0.20, 0.26]). The overall model fit is R²=0.48, and no interaction

effect of individualism/collectivism was found on the dependent variable relational energy (b=-

0.04, t=-0.42, p=0.68). Therefore the hypothesis was not supported.

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--- Insert Table 4 about here ---

Hypothesis 3c was not supported. It was expected that individualists would react less negatively to low group identification than collectivists would. A significant moderated mediation effect was found for the relationship between ostracism and personal energy mediated by group identification, in which individualism/collectivism did influence this negative relationship. A significant interaction effect on personal energy was found (b=-0.49, t=-2.64, p=0.01). R² was 0.37, which means the model explained 37 per cent of the variance.

However, it was not the result as I expected it to be. Namely, the results showed that individualism (b=-0.53) strengthened the negative relationship instead of alleviating it, and collectivism (b=-0.21) alleviated the negative relationship instead of strengthening it (95% CI [0.08, 0.62]). Therefore, the hypothesis was not supported.

Hypothesis 3d was not supported. As can be seen in table 5, no significant interaction effect of individualism/collectivism on relational energy was found (b=-0.22, t=-1.54, p=0.13).

Therefore, individualism did not act as an alleviating moderator nor did collectivism act as a strengthening moderator in the negative relationship between ostracism and relational energy, mediated by group identification (95% CI [-0.04, 0.35], R²=0.48). Consequently, this last hypothesis was not supported.

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Insert Table 5 about here

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29 DISCUSSION

The primary objective of this research was to answer the following research question:

‘How is being ostracized related to personal and relational energy, and how are these relationships influenced by individualism/collectivism?’. The findings partially answered the question, in a way that both negative relationships between ostracism and personal energy, and ostracism and relational energy were significantly mediated by sense of belongingness and group identification. However, the expected moderating interaction effect for individualism/collectivism was not found.

Theoretical contributions and implications

These findings offer meaningful theoretical contributions to the literature of human energy among expatriates, and they offer new insights regarding the influence of individualism/collectivism. First of all, little research has been devoted to the antecedents of human energy so far, and therefore this study has focused on one important factor that has implications for both personal and relational energy, namely ostracism. Although the relationship between ostracism and personal energy has been partially explained before, it was still unclear how ostracism affects relational energy. This study also offers insights regarding the underlying processes of sense of belongingness and group identification in these relationships, which had not been explored yet.

Consistent with theories on ostracism and individual energy, it was expected that both

forms of individual human energy would be negatively affected when a person is being

ostracized. Consistent with the predictions, the results showed that the relationships between

ostracism and personal energy, and ostracism and relational energy were indeed both negatively

related. Significant results were found for the direct effect of ostracism on relational energy

which means that ostracism results into lower relational energy, however, no significant results

were found for the direct effect of ostracism on personal energy.

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To further answer the question how ostracism is related to both forms of individual energy, underlying processes had to be explored. Both relationships were explained by the serial mediators ‘sense of belongingness’ and ‘group identification’. Even though no significant direct relationship was found between ostracism and personal energy, a significant indirect relationship was found and was explained by both sense of belongingness and group identification. Moreover, a significant indirect relationship was also found between ostracism and relational energy. This means that ostracism lowers people their sense of belongingness which consequently lowers their group identification, and this negatively affects both personal and relational energy. Therefore, the findings of this study and the already existing theories converge, and the hypotheses concerning the mediations were supported.

In order to answer the second part of the research question ‘How are these relationships influenced by individualism/collectivism?’, expatriates’ nationalities were used to determine whether the person was from an individualistic or a collectivistic society. Since independency and autonomy are of great importance to individualists (Triandis, 2001), individualism was expected to alleviate the negative relationships between ostracism and personal energy, and ostracism and relational energy, each separately mediated by sense of belongingness and by group identification. Collectivism on the other hand, was expected to strengthen these negative relationships, because they value social bonds and interdependency more (Triandis, 2001). Low sense of belongingness and low group identification, both caused by ostracism, were therefore expected to have a higher impact on collectivists than on individualists.

However, the results showed that individualism/collectivism did not act as a moderator in the mediated relationships of relational energy, but it did act as a moderator in the mediated relationships of personal energy. Remarkable about these results was that individualists’

personal energy was more negatively affected by low sense of belongingness and low group

identification, than collectivists’ personal energy was. For this reason, the findings of this study

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offer new insights into the individualistic and collectivistic cultures and what their influences are in the relationship between ostracism and human energy. Since this study showed that individualists were the ones being more negatively affected in their personal energy, it may provide new insights regarding the influence of this cultural dimension.

Therefore, further research is suggested to find out whether individualists’ human energy is indeed more negatively affected by low sense of belongingness and low group identification than collectivists’ energy. An explanation for this unexpected finding might be that collectivists are often outside the workplace surrounded by many persons like friends and family, and individualists less because they are more independent. For this reason, it could be that collectivists with low sense of belongingness or low group identification in their job, would experience it as less painful, because they already have many social relationships.

Practical Implications

From a practical standpoint, this study will help managers to get their attention about the serious impact of ostracism on expatriates’ energy, and to help them realize what serious consequences this will eventually have for the organization. Employees’ energy can namely easily decline when they feel they are being ignored and excluded. Even though the mean of ostracism was 1.48 in this sample, which means the expatriates do not feel ostracized often, some respondents scored above 3, which means they experienced ostracism sometimes to fairly often. In other words: ostracism still happens at the workplace in the Netherlands, and this will negatively affect their energy levels.

Possible solutions for managers in order to prevent themselves from low energy levels

among their expatriates are: take anonymous surveys among the employees to evaluate the

circumstances in the workplace, whether they feel like they are being excluded and ignored by

their colleagues. Especially for new coming expatriates, it is important to arrange trainings and

meetings in which people can get to know each other better. But also for employees who have

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been working there for a while already it is important to have social events and activities so that everyone feel included. Lastly, always appoint a person that employees can talk to when they are experiencing issues and problems. It is necessary for people to be able to talk to someone in confidence. By taking several actions it will help managers and organizations to keep their employees energized and to even improve the energy levels.

Limitations and Future research directions

Several limitations should be taken into account for the inconsistent findings. First of all, this study solely focused on expatriates in the Netherlands. In order to increase generalizability, future research needs to be conducted in more countries. Second, the use of self-reported surveys is another limitation. For increasing validity, research may include other sources of measures, for example expatriates’ supervisors, to report the dependent variables personal energy and relational energy. Another limitation is the small sample size. For attaining better and more valid results, a bigger sample is needed. Furthermore, a fourth limitation is that the process of taking the surveys, in which participants had to fill in two surveys, covered only one month. This is quite a short period of time for receiving a second survey. Therefore, a recommendation for improving research is to conduct a more longitudinal study, covered over a longer period of time that may provide more valid and more significant findings.

Lastly, the proxy measure of individualism/collectivism needs to be recognized as a limitation. Some countries, Spain for example, score exactly in the middle of individualism and collectivism. Compared with other countries of Europe, Spain is a collectivistic country.

However, compared with the rest of the world it is seen as an individualistic country

(https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/spain/). Since the biggest part of the

sample consisted of European nationalities, Spain was seen as a collectivistic country. Besides,

most of the expatriates in this study were from an individualistic culture (65.2%). Therefore,

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for future research it is important that more countries all over the world, especially more collectivistic countries, will be included.

CONCLUSION

Human energy is an upcoming topic and more attention is paid to this subject nowadays.

Previous studies have already evidenced the relationship between ostracism and personal

energy, but since this is only one form of human energy, information about the relationship

between ostracism and the other form of energy: relational energy, was still lacking. Besides

this, the underlying processes of these relationships still had to be examined. Therefore does

this study provide an extension in the human energy literature by the findings that the

antecedent ostracism will negatively affect both personal and relational energy, explained by

the serial mediators sense of belongingness and group identification. Moreover, since the

findings found that individualism/collectivism did not influence the negative relationship

between ostracism and relational energy, and even found that individualists’ personal energy is

more negatively affected than collectivists’ personal energy, further research needs to be

conducted.

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