Impact of behavioral integrity on workplace ostracism: The moderating roles of narcissistic personality and psychological distance

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between leader’s behavioral integrity and his/her workplace ostracism as well as to test the moderating roles of narcissistic personality and psychological distance on that relationship.

Data were collected from 13 state universities in Turkey. The sample included 1,003 randomly chosen faculty members and deans of their faculties. The moderating roles of narcissistic personality and psychological distance on the behavioral integrity and workplace ostracism relationship were tested using the moderated hierarchical regression analysis.

The moderated hierarchical regression analysis results revealed that there was a significant negative relationship between leader’s behavioral integrity and his/her workplace ostracism. In addition, the negative relationship between behavioral integrity and workplace ostracism was weaker when both leader’s narcissistic personality and psychological distance were higher than when they were lower.

This study showed that behavioral integrity lowered workplace ostracism. Workplace ostracism could be reduced by displaying the behavioral integrity (the alignment between words and deeds) and breaking down the barriers preventing effective communication and discussion in the organization. Moreover, the results of this study indicated that psychological distance was a significant predictor of workplace ostracism. Organizational practices and policies, especially human resource practices, should be carefully designed and implemented as to minimize psychological distance, an important source of employee dissatisfaction and distrust.

The study provides new insights into the influence that behavioral integrity may have on workplace ostracism and the moderating roles of narcissistic personality and psychological distance in the link between behavioral integrity and workplace ostracism. The paper also offers a practical assistance to employees in the higher education and their leaders interested in building trust and lowering workplace ostracism.