Sustainable Workplaces: Impact of Workplace Ostracism on Psychological Empowerment and Employee Voice in the Era of Digitalization

Abstract Background:To sustain long term resilience and competitiveness, organizations in the epoch of sustainability and digital transformation are coming to realize that inclusive and empowered employees are the core to long-term organizational resilience and competitiveness. However, workplace ostracism also known as veritable exile or is a great hurdle in establishment of sustainable workplaces. The isolation of employees does not only damage their wellbeing, but also hinder digital cooperation, innovation, and mutual efforts to achieve long-term sustainable organizational interests. This research paper discusses how workplace ostracism has contributed to psychological empowerment of university faculty members in Pakistan and this research issue is partly supported and underlined by employee voice behaviors and learned helplessness tools or mediators as the mediating variables in the wider frame of environmentally sustainability management decisions in the realm of human resource management in a digitalized working environment. Method:Validated scales based on workplace ostracism, psychological empowerment, learned helplessness, and employee voice behavior were utilized over a cross sectional survey design. The analysis was performed using a sample of 163 faculty member (73 men, 90 women) in universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The Direct, indirect and moderated pathways were tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results:It was revealed that ostracism in the workplace significantly decreases promotive voice behavior and increases learned helplessness that subsequently decreases psychological empowerment. The gendered effects were more negative among female faculty and showed the presence of barriers to inclusive and sustainable academic environments because of socio-cultural differences. Reading these findings through the prism of sustainability, the research highlights the fact that ostracism destroys not only individual power but the digital and innovative capabilities of these institutions on the way to sustainable growth. Conclusion:The study contributes to the discussion of sustainable workplaces as it relates to the topics of ostracism, on one hand, and empowerment, voice behavior, and sustainability, on the other. It also adds it is important to promote psychological safety, inclusivity, and digital collaboration to promote sustainable practices of human resources and institutes that can survive. Its results may be of interest to policymakers and university leader’s intent on making sure their respective educational institutions are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in this case, SDG 8 (Decent Work) and SDG 16 (Inclusive Institutions). Keywords: Workplace Ostracism, Psychological Empowerment, Employee voice, Sustainability Development Goals, Digitalization Transformation, Sustainable Workplace.