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A role that takes its toll? The moderating role of leadership in role stress and exposure to workplace bullying

Piotr Stapinski (SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Wroclaw, Poland)
Brita Bjørkelo (Department of Research, Norwegian Police University College, Oslo, Norway and Department of Psychology, Oslo New University College, Oslo, Norway)
Premilla D'Cruz (Organizational Behaviour Area, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, India)
Eva G. Mikkelsen (Department of Psychology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark)
Malgorzata Gamian-Wilk (Wroclaw Faculty, Institute of Psychology, Social Behavior Research Center, SWPS University of Social Science and Humanities, Wroclaw, Poland)

International Journal of Conflict Management

ISSN: 1044-4068

Article publication date: 10 November 2023

Issue publication date: 16 November 2023

509

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the article is to provide further evidence for the work environment hypothesis. According to the work environment hypothesis and as documented by empirical evidence, organizational factors play a crucial role in the development of workplace bullying. However, to better understand and prevent bullying at work and establish sustainable, responsible and ethical workplaces, it is crucial to understand which organizational factors are particularly important in the development of bullying and how these factors, independently and combined, act as precursors to bullying over time. One prominent theory that explains how organizational and individual factors interact is the affective events theory (AET).

Design/methodology/approach

In a two-wave, time-lagged study (N = 364), the authors apply AET to test and explain the interplay of organizational factors in the development of bullying at work.

Findings

The results revealed that supportive and fair leadership moderates the relationship between role stress and exposure to workplace bullying.

Practical implications

Knowledge of the buffering role of supportive and fair leadership practices is important when implementing organizational interventions aimed at preventing bullying at work.

Originality/value

Although previous studies have shown the general protecting effects of supportive leadership on exposure to bullying, the current study indicates that high level of supportive and fair leadership practices decreases the level of exposure to bullying, even when role ambiguity and role conflict are relatively high.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Disclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Erratum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that the article Stapinski, P., Bjørkelo, B., D’Cruz, P., Mikkelsen, E.G. and Gamian-Wilk, M. (2023), “A role that takes its toll? The moderating role of leadership in role stress and exposure to workplace bullying”, International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-03-2023-0047 was published with errors to some of the calculations and tables, which were inadvertently missed at proofing stage, this new version is the complete and corrected version.

Citation

Stapinski, P., Bjørkelo, B., D'Cruz, P., Mikkelsen, E.G. and Gamian-Wilk, M. (2023), "A role that takes its toll? The moderating role of leadership in role stress and exposure to workplace bullying", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 34 No. 5, pp. 1041-1058. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-03-2023-0047

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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