From language-based exclusion to workplace social loafing behavior: a moderated-mediation model of workplace embitterment and moral attentiveness

Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-026-06444-z

We investigate how language-based exclusion experienced by employees can lead them to engage in harmful behavior at work and how their morality can have an influence on this relationship. To answer this, we specifically test the role of language-based exclusion in predicting employee social loafing behavior at work. We also test the mediating mechanism of workplace embitterment that explains the relationship between language-based exclusion and social loafing behavior. Additionally, we observe the moderating role of moral attentiveness on the linkage between workplace embitterment and social loafing behavior. We employed three samples, utilizing multiple research designs, to test the hypothesized relationships. Findings from a vignette study (Study 1) conducted among 173 full-time employees confirmed that individuals in a high language-based exclusion condition are more likely to exhibit social loafing behavior. In addition, an experimental study (Study 2) involving 84 working professionals enrolled in a master’s program confirmed significant direct and indirect relationships between language-based exclusion and social loafing. This study also confirmed the significant interactive effect of workplace embitterment and moral attentiveness on social loafing behavior. The findings of a three-wave time-lagged survey study (Study 3) involving 315 full-time employees validated the direct and indirect relationships between language-based exclusion and social loafing behavior, mediated by workplace embitterment. Additionally, moral attentiveness significantly buffered the linkage between workplace embitterment and social loafing behavior, such that individuals with high moral attentiveness remain less susceptible to engaging in loafing behavior at work. Our findings have important theoretical implications for research in domains of organizational behavior and moral psychology. Managers can utilize these findings to create a more inclusive workplace and inform employees about the ethical considerations at work.