Workplace Ostracism Scale

Abstract

The Workplace Ostracism Scale (WOS) was developed to measure the extent to which employees perceive they are being ignored or excluded by coworkers, a phenomenon historically characterized as piecemeal and infrequent in early research. Ostracism, which includes behaviors ranging from extreme exile to subtle acts like avoiding eye contact or using the silent treatment, represents a common and painful human experience. Critically, ostracism in the workplace is often ambiguous, meaning the target may be unsure if the exclusion is intentional or punitive, such as when coworkers are simply engrossed in their own tasks.

Regardless of intent, ostracism is a profoundly aversive experience. Research utilizing Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has shown that the brain structures activated during physical pain are also activated during social rejection, suggesting that ostracism causes genuine social pain. This response is theorized to be an adaptive evolutionary mechanism, alerting individuals to a threat to their group inclusion. Supporting this, studies indicate that humans are highly sensitive to detecting ostracism indiscriminately, even when the source of exclusion is known to be arbitrary or instructed.

Beyond causing pain, ostracism threatens four fundamental human needs: the need to belong, the need for self-esteem, the need for control, and the need for a meaningful existence. The threat to these needs leads to significant maladaptive responses, including increased aggression, reduced prosocial behavior, and engagement in self-defeating actions like procrastination. These negative behavioral outcomes are often attributed to the impairment of self-regulation, as excluded individuals often enter a deconstructed cognitive state characterized by minimal self-awareness and a focus on the present rather than long-term goals.

Keywords

Workplace Ostracism, Social Exclusion, Organizational Behavior, Social Pain, Fundamental Human Needs, Self-regulation, Applied Psychology

Authors

Ferris, D. L., Brown, D. J., Berry, J. W., Lian, H.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Workplace Ostracism Scale (WOS) is to provide a reliable and valid measure for assessing the frequency and severity of perceived social exclusion and being ignored within an organizational or work environment. This instrument was developed to advance research on the consequences of ostracism in professional settings, differentiating it from traditional measures of workplace aggression or incivility by focusing specifically on the absence of interaction.

The scale aims to capture subtle, often ambiguous behaviors (e.g., avoiding eye contact, being shut out of conversation) that collectively contribute to an employee’s subjective experience of being socially rejected. By quantifying this experience, the WOS allows researchers to examine the mechanisms through which workplace exclusion impacts employee well-being, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors.

Construct

The WOS measures the construct of perceived Workplace Ostracism, defined as the degree to which an individual feels ignored or excluded by others in their work environment. This construct is rooted in the extensive theoretical work by K. D. Williams, which posits that ostracism is inherently aversive because it simultaneously threatens four core fundamental human needs.

These four threatened needs—belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence—are central to understanding the negative psychological impact of the construct. Ostracism undermines belongingness by threatening group removal; it reduces self-esteem by suggesting personal inadequacy; it erodes control because actions prompt no reaction from others; and it threatens a meaningful existence by providing a sense of “social death.” The scale items are designed to capture the behavioral manifestations of these threats as experienced daily in the workplace.

Validity

The validation of the Workplace Ostracism Scale (WOS) relies heavily on the robust theoretical foundation of ostracism research, establishing strong conceptual validity. Empirical evidence supporting the underlying construct includes studies demonstrating that social exclusion triggers social pain, evidenced by the activation of pain-related brain structures detected via fMRI.

The scale items were developed to reflect the diverse, often subtle, behaviors associated with ostracism, ensuring content validity. Further empirical validation, including convergent and discriminant validity testing against related constructs like social support or harassment, is detailed in the originating 2008 publication by Ferris and colleagues in the Journal of Applied Psychology. The scale’s ability to predict maladaptive outcomes such as reduced self-regulation, aggression, and poor decision-making further supports its criterion validity.

Reliability

The reliability of the Workplace Ostracism Scale (WOS) was established during its development phase. While specific coefficients are not provided in the descriptive summary, measures developed for applied psychology settings, particularly those published in high-impact journals, typically demonstrate high internal consistency. The WOS is expected to yield high Cronbach’s alpha values, indicating that its items consistently measure the same underlying construct of perceived workplace exclusion.

Test-retest reliability is also a critical component, confirming that the scale provides stable measurements of an individual’s perception of ostracism over time, assuming the work environment remains relatively consistent. Researchers utilizing the WOS should refer to the original 2008 validation study for precise statistics regarding the scale’s internal consistency and temporal stability.

Factor Analysis

Although detailed results are not explicitly provided in the source description, the development and validation of the Workplace Ostracism Scale (WOS) typically involve factor analysis to confirm its intended structure. Given that the scale measures a singular phenomenon—the perception of being ignored or excluded—it is generally validated as a unidimensional or single-factor construct.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) or Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) would have been used by the authors to ensure that the final 10 items load strongly onto a single factor representing overall workplace ostracism. This single-factor structure enhances the scale’s utility, allowing for the calculation of a straightforward, aggregate score that reflects the overall severity of the exclusion experienced by the employee.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report psychological inventory

Format: Likert-type response scale (7 points)

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: Employees/Working Adults

Age Group: Adult (Generally 18+)

Population Details: Individuals working in various professional and organizational settings who may experience social exclusion from coworkers or groups.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate the frequency with which they experience specific exclusionary behaviors at work, using a 7-point scale ranging from “Never” to “Always.”

Keywords

Workplace Ostracism Scale, Organizational Justice, Social Rejection, Employee Well-being, Psychometrics, Scale Development, Applied Psychology

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Correspondence details are typically available through the Journal of Applied Psychology publication.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Workplace Ostracism Scale (WOS) was developed and published in 2008.

Test Year: 2008

Permissions and Fee: Use of the scale for non-commercial academic research typically requires appropriate citation of the original source (Ferris et al., 2008). For commercial or proprietary use, permission must be sought from the authors or the publisher, the American Psychological Association (APA).

Reference’s

Ferris, D. L., Brown, D. J., Berry, J. W., & Lian, H. (2008). The development and validation of the Workplace Ostracism Scale. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(6), 1348.

Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529.

Eisenberger, N. I., Lieberman, M. D., & Williams, K. D. (2003). Does rejection hurt? An fMRI study of social exclusion. Science, 302(5643), 290–292.

Williams, K. D. (1997). The social outcast: Ostracism, social exclusion, rejection, and bullying. In R. M. Kowalski (Ed.), Aversive interpersonal behaviors (pp. 165–190). Plenum Press.

Twenge, J. M., Baumeister, R. F., Tice, D. M., & Stucke, T. S. (2001). If you can’t join ’em, beat ’em: Effects of social exclusion on aggressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(6), 1058–1069.

Items of the Workplace Ostracism Scale

1. Others ignored you at work.

2. Others left the area when you entered.

3. Your greetings have gone unanswered at work.

4. You involuntarily sat alone in a crowded lunchroom at work.

5. Others avoided you at work.

6. You noticed others would not look at you at work.

7. Others at work shut you out of the conversation.

8. Others refused to talk to you at work.

9. Others at work treated you as if you weren’t there.

10. Others at work did not invite you or ask you if you wanted anything when they went out for a coffee break.

11. You have been included in conversations at work (reverse coded).*

12. Others at work stopped talking to you.*

13. You had to be the one to start a conversation in order to be social at work.*

Note. On the basis of Bass, Cascio, and O’Connor (1974), we used a seven-point Likert-type response scale

• Never
• Once in a while
• Sometimes
• Fairly often
• Often
• Constantly
• Always

An asterisk indicates that an item was not included in the final scale.