‘I disdain the company of flatterers!’: How and when observed ingratiation predicts employees’ ostracism toward their ingratiating colleagues

Ingratiation is an impression management tactic used by those who seek to obtain the favor of others. Previous studies mainly examine the role of ingratiation from the initiator’s perspective, ignoring observers’ reactions when they are confronted with their peers’ ingratiating behaviors. Drawing on social comparison theory, this study employs a third-party framework to explain the pathways between observed ingratiation and ostracism and analyzes data from a time-lagged survey and two scenario-based experiments in the Chinese context. Observed ingratiation triggers third-party employees’ ostracism of flatterers by arousing a sense of future status threats. Moreover, when observers’ goals are competitive with those of ingratiators, the adverse effects of observed ingratiation are exacerbated, whereas their leader–member exchange social comparison (LMXSC) buffers its unfavorable effects. These findings advance ingratiation studies by extending the research perspective from that of initiator–target dyads to third-party employees and unveiling a vital mediator (future status threats) and two essential opposite moderators (competitive goals and LMXSC) in the internal mechanism underlying the observed ingratiation–ostracism link. Further, although ingratiation may induce benefits for ingratiators, managers must recognize that it can be destructive for third-party employees.