Title: Workplace ostracism: a systematic review, thematic analysis, and research agenda

Authors: Neelam Kaushal; Karminder Ghuman

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, Haryana-136119, India ' LM Thapar School of Management, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (Deemed to be University), Patiala, India

Abstract: The present study undertakes a systematic literature review, organises the entire workplace ostracism (WO) literature through thematic analysis, and sets an agenda for imminent research for the orderly advancement of the domain. The SLR was undertaken following a well-defined protocol and inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 125 documents from Web of Science and Scopus databases were considered for organising the WO research findings. The study developed the knowledge structure of WO literature and organised it under six major dimensions: demographics, personality, and leadership as antecedents, moderators and mediators; and emotional response, behavioural modification, and organisational performance as outcomes. It also proposes the linkages, which can be examined through future research by employing the suggested research design for the orderly development of the domain and concludes with theoretical and practical implications.

Keywords: workplace ostracism; employee discrimination; systematic literature review; thematic analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2025.144744

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2025 Vol.36 No.3, pp.281 - 318

Received: 07 Sep 2021
Accepted: 23 Feb 2022
Published online: 03 Mar 2025 *

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