ePrints

Co-worker undermining, emotional exhaustion and organisational commitment: the moderating role of servant leadership

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Wee Chan Au

Downloads

• Accepted version [.pdf]

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

PurposeNot much is known about the conditions under which the negative relationship between co-worker undermining and employee outcomes may wax or wane. This study seeks to address this issue by analysing the role of leadership in mitigating the negative impact of co-worker undermining on employee outcomes. Drawing on expectancy violation theory (EVT), the study proposes that servant leadership will alleviate the association between co-worker undermining, emotional exhaustion and consequently organisational commitment.Design/methodology/approachTwo-wave time-lagged data were collected from a sample of 345 nurses working under 33 supervisors in a large public hospital in Malaysia. To account for the nested nature of the data, generalised multilevel structural equation modeling (GSEM) in STATA was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsAfter controlling for transformational leadership, co-worker undermining was indirectly related to organisational commitment via emotional exhaustion, and this indirect relationship was weaker when servant leadership was high.Practical implicationsOrganisations need to invest in interventions that help reduce co-worker undermining and put emphasis on promoting servant leadership.Originality/valueThe study extends the literature by introducing EVT as a new theoretical lens to analyse the consequences of co-worker undermining on employee outcomes. The study also addresses calls for research on the role of leadership in ameliorating the negative consequences of co-worker undermining.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Mostafa AMS, Yunus S, Au WC, Cai Z

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Managerial Psychology

Year: 2023

Volume: 38

Issue: 3

Pages: 194-209

Print publication date: 15/05/2023

Online publication date: 08/05/2023

Acceptance date: 11/04/2023

Date deposited: 09/05/2023

ISSN (print): 0268-3946

ISSN (electronic): 1758-7778

Publisher: Emerald

URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-07-2022-0351

DOI: 10.1108/JMP-07-2022-0351

ePrints DOI: 10.57711/dhkz-5w63

Altmetrics

Share