Workplace ostracism and employee silence in nursing: the mediating role of organizational identification.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effect, through organizational identification, of workplace ostracism on nurses' silence towards patient safety. BACKGROUND: Employee silence in nursing has recently received attention in relation to its antecedents. Yet, very little is known about the role of workplace ostracism in generating nurses' silence. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a public hospital in Cyprus. METHOD: Data were collected from 157 nurses employed in a public hospital of Cyprus between November 2014-January 2015. To examine the present hypotheses bootstrapping analysis and Sobel test were conducted. RESULTS: Results demonstrated that workplace ostracism has an effect on nurses' silence towards patient safety. Moreover, this effect was partially mediated through organizational identification. CONCLUSIONS: Workplace ostracism among nurses significantly affects both nurses' attitude and behaviour namely organizational identification and employee silence.