ArticleBehavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2025
Silence as a Quiet Strategy: Understanding the Consequences of Workplace Ostracism Through the Lens of Sociometer Theory.
Article in Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Silence-embedded distress: a case report conceptualizing a culturally mediated trauma phenomenon in community-based mental health practice in Rwanda.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2026Article
- Silence-Embedded Distress: A Case Report Conceptualizing a Culturally Mediated Trauma Phenomenon in Community-Based Mental Health Practice in Rwanda.Clinical case reports · 2026Article
- Underdog Expectations and Employees' Interpersonal Counterproductive Work Behavior: The Mediating Roles of Perceived Insider Status and Moral Disengagement.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Hidden distress: a qualitative study of sociocultural barriers to mental health help-seeking among young people in Zimbabwe.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Existing research has predominantly framed defensive silence as an avoidance response to interpersonal mistreatments. Moving beyond this view, this study theorizes defensive silence as a proactive strategy for managing interpersonal relationships through the lens of sociometer theory. We posit that workplace ostracism will reduce employees' organization-based self-esteem (OBSE), which in turn increases their subsequent defensive silence to avert further damage to relationships. In addition, we also expect a moderating role of the sense of power in mitigating the negative impact of workplace ostracism on OBSE. Based on the multi-wave, multi-source data of 345 employees and their 82 immediate supervisors, we tested all the hypotheses. Results from multilevel modeling indicated that OBSE mediated the indirect effect of workplace ostracism on defensive silence, and also supported the moderation role of sense of power. Our theoretical model provides a novel perspective that deepens the understanding of defensive silence and suggests implications for managerial practices.
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Registered trials
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