More pain, more change? The mediating role of presenteeism and the moderating role of ostracism

Abstract Presenteeism has mainly been discussed in terms of its negative effects on both individuals and organizations. By conducting two studies, we posit that presenteeism is an active, problem‐focused coping strategy that health‐impaired employees use to endure difficult times, and that the process is attenuated by workplace ostracism. In Study 1, we adopt a resource‐based view of stress, identify the effects of two kinds of pain (i.e., physical pain and social pain) on presenteeism, and explore the positive implications of presenteeism by sampling 60 full‐time employees over 10 consecutive workdays. We find that episodic physical pain is positively related to presenteeism and ultimately drives job crafting at the daily level. Furthermore, workplace ostracism significantly weakens the daily relationship among episodic physical pain, presenteeism, and job crafting. Grounded in these findings, Study 2 is designed to explore the mechanisms through which ostracism moderates the relationship between physical pain and presenteeism. A two‐wave dataset from 187 employees reveals that ostracism reduces self‐esteem and then weakens the positive link between physical pain and presenteeism. In summary, we provide preliminary evidence that presenteeism may play a positive role in dealing with physical pain, and that social pain (i.e., ostracism) tends to weaken this positive role by reducing employee's self‐esteem.