The Relationship Between Workplace Loneliness, Person–Organization Fit, Employee Silence, and Deviant Behavior

Abstract

The workplace has become a social context where individuals can feel loneliness. Even though loneliness has been studied for many decades, loneliness at the workplace has yet to be comprehensively examined and understood. Further, research has called for more studies on the boundary conditions that can help mitigate the negative impact of loneliness on organizational outcomes. Hence, the study empirically tested the moderating effect of person–organization (P–O) fit for the relationship between workplace loneliness and employee silence and the mediating effect of employee silence for the relationship between workplace loneliness and deviant behavior. Data were collected from 214 police officers in South Korea using a multi‐wave time‐lagged procedure. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted, and the results showed that P–O fit significantly moderated the relationship between workplace loneliness and employee silence, and employee silence mediated the relationship between workplace loneliness and deviant behavior. Furthermore, additional analysis found moderated mediation for the hypothesized research model. The study contributes to the existing body of research by discovering the proximal and distal outcomes of workplace loneliness and how P–O fit can influence the relationship.