Opening the black box: Why and when workplace exclusion affects social reconnection behavior, health and attitudes

By integrating belongingness theory and the sensitivity about being the target of a threatening upward comparison (STTUC) theory, we explicate a process through which co-worker exclusion is positively related to social reconnection behaviour in the workplace. Specifically, we argued and found that exclusion prompts ingratiatory and citizenship behaviours via the perception of being envied by colleagues. Despite these positive outcomes, we also found the mediated relationship of exclusion and perceptions of being envied to be damaging to workers’ psychological health and work-related attitudes, and that these relationships were the strongest among employees with high positive affect (PA). We tested our model across two distinct samples that included full-time Dutch (Study 1) and American (Study 2) employees. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.