Language-Based Exclusion and Prosocial Behaviors in Organizations

Exclusion in the workplace: a multi-level investigation

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to expand the research on workplace mistreatment and its effects on individual employees while taking into account the organizational setting. This cross-level study explores the interaction between the team Civility climate (CC) and individual experience of exclusion and their combined effect on the target’s organization-based self-esteem (OBSE).

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 251 individuals nested in 71 teams (mean team size=4.6) completed surveys. A two-way multi-level interaction model was used to test the moderation hypothesis.

Findings

The cross-level interaction between CC and exclusion was significant, which means that CC influenced the strength of the relationship between exclusion and OBSE. Specifically, it was found that the higher the group-level civility norms, the stronger the negative relationship between exclusion and OBSE.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation of this study is its cross-sectional design. All variables were self-reported and collected at one time-point.

Originality/value

The present study contributes to workplace mistreatment literature by using a multi-level design to examine exclusion as a predictor of OBSE and team CC as a cross-level moderator of this relationship.

Diversity: a matter of reality or perception?

Purpose

While extant literature is replete with studies on actual diversity, research on perceived diversity is scant. The authors examine perceived diversity as an underlying mechanism explaining the effect of actual diversity on affect-related outcome (employee well-being).

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 617 full-time employees from large organizations representing varied industries in India have participated in the survey-based study. The authors used PROCESS macro for mediation analysis.

Findings

An index estimating actual surface-level diversity was found to correlate significantly with perceived surface-level diversity. Perceived diversity was found to significantly impact employee well-being, thereby, demonstrating its mediating role in the link between actual diversity and well-being.

Research limitations/implications

Beyond the underlying processes of diversity, effects such as diversity perceptions, contextual factors conditioning diversity effects need exploration.

Practical implications

Investigation of both actual and perceived diversity improves the explanation of diversity effects. Besides compositional mix, managers must tap on employee perceived differences to understand and leverage diversity and its effects.

Originality/value

Besides contributing to the emerging interest in empirical examination of perceived diversity on employee outcomes, this study develops an index to estimate actual surface-level diversity.

Language as heteroglot

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reframe the role and function of perceived “bad English” in an international business (IB) context to illustrate that “bad English” could in fact facilitate cross-cultural communication in individuals who do not have English as first language.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses the Bakhtinian concept of heteroglossia as a theoretical framework. For the method of analysis, applied linguistics is used in particular through the lens of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) as discourse analysis method to analyze transcribed interview texts. Data collection is via long interviews with 33 top level managers in Swedish managed organizations in Singapore offices.

Findings

The study illustrates, through respondent interviews and discourse analysis, that perceived “bad English” could help facilitate communication across cultures in a cross-cultural working context. The study also shows how different individuals, depending on personal experience and cultural background, employ different means to navigate and manage language differences at work.

Research limitations/implications

The findings confirm a Baktinian perspective of language as a heteroglot, where individual identities and understanding of context at work including work behavior are an amalgamation of collected experiences. While many individuals who do not have English as mother tongue might feel embarrassed by their poor English, this study shows that there are many Englishes existing in different working contexts. This study has a limited sample of respondents, pertaining to Swedish and Singaporean top managers in Swedish managed organizations in Singapore.

Practical implications

This study could be useful for multinational corporations that are interested in strategically managing their corporate language policies, taking into account cognitive differences or cultural identities in different offices worldwide.

Social implications

At a social level, Bakhtin’s language as a heteroglot brings to awareness that at any one time, while individuals are drawn to identify with their dominant (national) culture and language, in effect, with increased contact with other cultures in working environments, both language and cultural identities shift and evolve with the workplace.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the growing language in IB research. The novelty in this study is the employment of a Bakhtinian perspective and specifically the employment of SFL as a method of data analysis.

Comparing and Contrasting Workplace Ostracism and Incivility

Despite their shared characteristics, the literatures on workplace ostracism and incivility have evolved in different directions. In this review, we discuss the similarities and differences in the conceptualizations of the two constructs and trace the different measures, histories, theories, and topics covered in the two literatures. Although small, we also review the subset of studies that have directly contrasted the effects of ostracism and incivility within the same study. Subsequently, we outline future research areas for both literatures, with a particular focus on research areas that may produce results that help further differentiate the two constructs.