1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Individuals have many skills, to implement or exercise these skills they need such platform that provides an opportunity to grow and achieve their aims. In a competitive setting people do not like to remain idle, they want to be engaged in something useful and creative to make their dreams comes true and to make their standard of life better. If they do not find such opportunities of growth and development, they tend to develop different negative thoughts such as boredom, burnout and boreout. According to Stock (2014), researches unconditionally believed that employees need challenging work environment at some extent that encourage them to be active and novel at workplace. Sometimes, individuals lose their interest in doing the same task repeatedly and this leads them to reduce motivation toward performing the task, which leads toward developing a state called “boreout”.
The pernicious and deleterious effects of burnout are widely known. However, less is known about the pernicious impact of boreout despite the fact that it exerts similar levels of harm on individuals as burnout .Boreout occurs when an employee gets bored of their work thereupon individual consider its work as meaningless. With the impact of boreout, jobs, task seems worthless and individual become deficient (Lufkin, 2021). According to the researchers, “Boreout” is a latest concept and not studied in detail by the researcher to describe it. In spite of this, it affected many workers and affects not only the employees but also to the organizations; these effects can be disappointment, exhaustion as well as self-depreciation among employees, on the other hand, for organization the effects are in form of an excessive economical pressure, high turnover (Rothlin& Werder, 2014). As this factor does not receive much consideration as burnout did but researchers said that this factor not only affects individual but also to the organizations because boreout cause individual to left the job (Lufkin, 2021) and this will cause organization to face different problems not only related to workforce but also financially in millions, because if some experienced worker will left the organization, this will cost much money (Prammer, 2013). In 2022 research revealed that boreout can affect an organization at an extreme level, itgives rise to financial loss, reduce human resources and it was one of the greatest reasons to cause “The Great Resignation” of 2021(Morgan, 2021). It can also cause organizations to dive out an extreme fee, A France based company paid an immense amount to one of his employees because he suffered from boreout that lead him to nervous breakdown. Harju, Hakanen and Schaufeli(2014) conducted study and observed that 11,000 employees from 87 organizations and found that persistent boredom can lead individual to quit their job and develop an extreme level of stress. Due to the immense effects of boreout, it is compulsory to understand the concept not only for individual but also for managers to take precautions from future disasters. Research illustrated the symptoms of boreout are alike burnout as in burn out people feel devastated, tired but in boreout people feel they are doing their work without interest, they feel work as purposeless. For some people,
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maybe it’s strange to feel bored at workplace but it has negative effects, because if an employee does not find any challenging work, they can perceive their work as meaningless (Timely blog, 2022).
According to research by Abubakar (2019), boreout initially intimidate employee’s happiness and later affect their performance at work. Stock (2016) explained it as a psychological factor that stops employees to focus on their job, reduce their stimulation toward work, and disrupt their efficiency and effectiveness. The concept of boreout has been introduced by Stock (2015) in recent years in management research. He did effort to explain the importance of boreout but that is not enough, so to understand the damaging effects of the phenomenon further research is needed. Research by Maria (2021) explored that an individual’s disincentives and boredom work conjointly and leads to boreout. Employees who are bored at work become unproductive. Boreout negatively affects their overall working values; it also causes a high turnover rate. Employees need opportunities to develop skills and grow and if they do not find such environment they tend to retire or search for new place to learn.
Stock (2016) stated that the workers who are bored at work they tend to be less interested in completing their tasks and they surpass their potentials. These workers also find or identify less occasions to grow and learn, due to these situations they cannot fulfill their institutional goals. As the phenomenon “boreout” is related to Boredom and according to research (Park, Lim, & Oh, 2019) if an employee is suffering from boredom at work, they feel as they do not fit in the job because that job does not require you to utilize your skills properly. At such job place people feel as they are trapped and there is no chance to develop or grow. So, they tend to engage in searching for a place where they can find new opportunities to grow. As research by Blau (1994) indicated that employed people usually search for a new job because of their dissatisfaction at current job. Present research will be an initial step to know if boreout at work cause employees to engage in job search behavior and knowledge hiding behaviors. Research by Myers (2015) illustrated that almost 500 companies faced an economical loss of 31.5 billion dollars annually due to their employee’s dissatisfaction and failure to deliver the information, because without sharing knowledge employees are unable to learn new things and skills, as a consequence they imitate one another and affects the organizations. To help with such issues, number of researchers attempted to understand the connection between these behaviors (knowledge hiding and knowledge sabotage) but still there are many unanswered questions to know the antecedents of these behaviors. So, the further researches are needed to answer these questions (Serenko, 2019).
1.2 Study Contribution
There are very little researches to understand the consequences of boreout among employees as the concept of boreout came into being by Rothlin and Werder (2008). Until now, there are very little researches about the effects of boreout among staff members (Stock, 2015, 2016). Researchers focused on boredom at workplace (a sub-dimension of boreout) but did not focus on boreout at workplace (Harju et al., 2014, 2016). Present research will be an important addition in literature, concerning the effects of boreout on employees and organizations. It will also help further researchers to explore contributing factors causing boreout and related behaviors. As research by Maria (2021) suggested
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that boreout has adverse effects not only on individual’s performance at work as well as on their relationship’s ailments and negative behavioral changes. It can also support other researches and generate useful knowledge for further researchers.
Further as practical contribution, current research will provide scientific facts that will illustrate how boreout influences individual’s performance and its consequences for organizations. The present study will provide regarding the association between boreout and job search behavior among employees. It will be also beneficial in drawing attention of managers to make strategies in order to understand how boreout leads individual to de-motivation toward the job and to take the decision of leaving the job. So, they can plan management techniques that will make employees productive, emotionally stable, and creative. It will also help management to take decisions in order to reduce the worse final effects. Present research will be also beneficial in drawing attention of managers and supervisors, which will help them to plan management techniques to tackle with these problems to prevent from further issues.
1.3 Research Questions
Present research will be an attempt to fill the research gap by providing a literature to develop hypothesis. Objectives of current research will be;
i. To find out the relationship between boreout and job search behavior among employees.
ii. To find the mediating role of job search behavior among employees for knowledge hiding behavior and knowledge sabotage behavior.
To achieve the above stated objectives following will be the research questions for current study:
i. Is there an association exists between boreout and job search behavior among employees?
ii. Is there a positive association between job search behavior, knowledge hiding and sabotage behavior among employees?
iii. Is job search behavior playing a mediating role between boreout and knowledge hiding and knowledge sabotage behavior?
1.4 Structure of Thesis
Present research focused on finding relationship between boreout, job search behavior, knowledge hiding behavior and knowledge sabotage behavior. Current research contains 5 chapters that highlight relevant information in order to assess the developed hypotheses. First chapter focuses on background of research, problem statement and research question. Second chapter consists on previous researches and theoretical framework to develop hypotheses. Chapter of methods includes, research type, sampling technique, number of sample, instruments to measure the variables. Findings of the research will be presented in the form of tables and figures. Last chapter, focused on the summary of findings, theoretical, practical implications, limitations and future recommendations on the basis of findings.
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2. LITERATUREREVIEW
Current chapter consists of literature review on Boreout, job search behavior, knowledge hiding behavior and knowledge sabotage behavior. In present chapter definition of variables will be discussed as well as research model and hypothesis will be generated with the help of different theories.
2.1 Theoretical Contribution
There are numerous theories that describe the ways an individual behaves and how some factors influence a person’s way of behaving. Numerous researchers conducted researches to understand the factors affecting employee’s performance. Most studies unconditionally believe that a precise level of challenge is required in a job to inspire staff to demonstrate their improved performance. Through the use of theories, the purpose is to extend the existing knowledge and provide logical justifications for the factors being studied in present research.
2.1.1 Social Exchange Theory
According to Blau (1964), a person can reach to their personal goals by making contact with another person. According to social exchange theory an individual’s social actions depends on the motivation a person receives to get a reward after that behavior or action, so they become highly motivated to perform specific action in order to get the rewards or incentives. As humans, it causes disturbance to our actions if there is no valuable reward after completion of actions.
Abubakar, Rezapouraghdam, Behravesh and Megeirhi (2022) conducted qualitative research and explained the notion of social exchange theory as, an employee will develop boreout syndrome if he/she is not getting what they deserve in return of what they are giving to the organization. Consequently, a reduction of resources or if workers feel a decrease in responsibilities or work, they believe satisfying or enjoyable after completing work can cause them to develop feelings of boreout at work.
Social exchange theory proposed the notion that people cooperate with each other due to self-interested analyzes of profits and cost in three ways; to increase the benefit and reduce the cost (giving), the benefits can be intangible. Usually, they help to get help in exchange in future. Similarly with sharing knowledge, they need something beneficial in return (Liang, Liu, & Wu; 2008).
According to Redmond (2015), two social psychologists John Thibaut and Harold Kelley (1959), were engrossed to know the psyche that cause some inter-group behaviors such as, establishing relations, strive to rule, to follow commands, attaining objectives, and completing prescribed tasks.
They concentrated to study social relationship because they investigated the influence of reward. Whereas Homans, Blau, Thibaut and Kelley (1959) noted about the ways social exchange theory affect the behavior in groups or organizations (Küçük, 2020). Another study revealed that social exchange theory showed that workers usually engage in knowledge sharing behavior if they find that organization is
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supporting their opinions as well as supportive supervisor behavior (Wu & Lee;2020).According to the Homan’s (1961) concept of social exchange theory, individual only suffer from something if they’re not receiving any incentive in return. These rewards or incentive could be in any form such as income or love/belongingness. Another research conducted by Andolšek and Andolšek (2015), social exchange theory proposed an explanation towards human’s actions in order to explain in which situations or conditions they are prepared to share their knowledge within an organization.
Social exchange theory agreed on the statement that staff who have good relationships with their teammates in institute, seemed to be more dedicated to their work and (Buch, Kuvaas, Dysvik & Schyns,2014; Song, Tsui & Law 2009; Shore, Tetrick, Lynch & Barksdale,2006).Though, every individual is different so, the employees are also different as well as the managers, they do efforts to do reciprocal relationships to achieve various profits (Leventhal, Gergen, Greenberg, & Willis, 1980). Social exchange theory helps to understand how and what should organizations do to decrease knowledge hiding behavior (Andolšek & Andolšek; 2015).
2.1.2 Conservation of Resource Theory
The idea of conservation of resources (COR) theory, explained that individual “strive to retain, protect, and build resources” (Hobfoll 1989, p. 516). Therefore, workers try to hide their knowledge to receive more resources or additional tasks or to avoiding losing resources (He, Sun, Zhao, Zheng, & Shen; 2020).
Conservation of resource theory showed that distressing workplace environment cause an individual to reduce resources (personal resources, such as ability to adjust in the situation, skills etc) .If this situation turns into a custom of an organization and disinterest of management to resolve the distressing situations triggered individual to search for a new job in order to get a job where they can use their resources well. Due to the reduction in resources cause an individual to dissatisfy from their work as well as to turns them into less productive employee (Hobfoll, 2011).
Correspondingly, the COR theory postulated that pessimism could be a reason to enhance the likelihood of employee’s plan to leave and withdrawal (Chiaburu, Diaz & De Vos, 2013). So, people who have pessimistic thoughts toward their workplace tend to search for a new job. It is to be noted that people who have lack of workload and less challenging work can develop boreout syndrome along the availability of poor resources (Rothlin & Werder, 2008).
Hobfoll (2001) proposed that Conservation of resource theory particularly recommends that people want to have advantage of their internal characteristics (personality traits, skills) as well as external (colleagues and administrative support) resources to tackle with disturbing situations. Additionally, conservation of resource theory suggests that “excessive demands and/or insufficient resources within a particular role domain or between domains can result in negative affective and dysfunctional behaviors” (Shaffer et al., 2001).