The Impact of Workplace Ostracism on Employee Silence

As workplace interpersonal relationships and employee mental health issues have received widespread attention, workplace ostracism has become an important negative interpersonal factor that influences employee behavior. Existing studies have mostly focused on the effects of leadership style, organizational climate, or psychological safety on employee silence, while paying relatively less attention to the internal mechanism through which employees engage in silence because of resource depletion under negative interpersonal conditions. Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study constructs a mediation model of “workplace ostracism—emotional exhaustion—employee silence” and introduces psychological resilience as a moderating variable. An empirical analysis of 229 questionnaire responses from employees shows that workplace ostracism increases employees’ emotional exhaustion, which, in turn, strengthens their tendency toward silence. Psychological resilience can alleviate the effect of workplace ostracism on emotional exhaustion. This study enriches the psychological mechanism explanation of employee silence and provides theoretical support and practical implications for organizations seeking to improve interpersonal climates, reduce employees’ emotional exhaustion, and decrease silent behavior.