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Article
Publication date: 1 March 2007

Anders Skogstad, Stig Berge Matthiesen and Stale Einarsen

In the present paper direct as well as indirect relationships between organizational changes and exposure to bullying at work are investigated. Interpersonal conflicts are…

Abstract

In the present paper direct as well as indirect relationships between organizational changes and exposure to bullying at work are investigated. Interpersonal conflicts are hypothesized to mediate changes on bullying. Data from a sample of 2408 Norwegian employees confirmed that different organizational changes were moderately associated with task-related bullying at work, and that exposure to more changes increased the likelihood of being bullied. Structural equation modelling supported the assumption that changes were directly related to bullying. However, the hypothesis that changes were mediated on bullying through interpersonal conflicts was not supported. Results indicate that organizational changes and interpersonal conflicts are separate, and mainly independent, precursors of bullying at work.

Details

International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1093-4537

Book part
Publication date: 7 June 2016

Premilla D’Cruz and Ernesto Noronha

The chapter elaborates how organizational governance can optimally address workplace bullying, a synergy possible because organizational governance seeks to promote ethical…

Abstract

Purpose

The chapter elaborates how organizational governance can optimally address workplace bullying, a synergy possible because organizational governance seeks to promote ethical functioning while workplace bullying is considered an unethical behavior. Through its suggestions, the chapter aims at furthering employee dignity and well-being, cohering with international calls for human rights at work.

Methodology/approach

A review of two literatures was conducted: (a) workplace bullying differentiated on the basis of its situatedness and level into internal bullying – of an interpersonal and depersonalized nature – and external bullying; and (b) organizational governance including its theoretical perspectives, especially the societal lens, and international, national, and firm codes.

Findings

Several organizational governance measures at institutional level – both international and national in scope – and at firm level are proposed to deal with varieties of workplace bullying encompassing primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Accordingly, a shift in organizational effectiveness from goal-based models to process-oriented frameworks so that economic and non-economic objectives are balanced, following the stakeholder approach, is advocated. The political dynamics involved in such an initiative are alluded to.

Practical implications

Application, drawing on secondary rather than primary data, is the essential thrust of the chapter, with recommendations anchored in organizational governance, particularly its societal perspective, conceptualized to address workplace bullying in a holistic manner.

Originality/value

First, despite the clear relevance of organizational governance to workplace bullying, the prospect of interventions from this standpoint has never been previously explored. Second, the term “varieties of workplace bullying” is propounded to capture the different types of emotional abuse at work known so far.

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2015

Jose M. Leon-Perez, Francisco J. Medina, Alicia Arenas and Lourdes Munduate

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that conflict management styles play in the relationship between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that conflict management styles play in the relationship between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey study was conducted among 761 employees from different organizations in Spain.

Findings

Results suggest that an escalation of the conflict process from task related to relationship conflict may explain bullying situations to some extent. Regarding conflict management, attempts to actively manage conflict through problem solving may prevent it escalating to higher emotional levels (relationship conflict) and bullying situations; in contrast, other conflict management strategies seem to foster conflict escalation.

Research limitations/implications

The correlational design makes the conclusions on causality questionable, and future research should examine the dynamic conflict process in more detail. On the other hand, to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study empirically differentiating interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying.

Originality/value

This study explores how conflict management can prevent conflict escalating into workplace bullying, which has important implications for occupational health practitioners and managers.

Details

Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 30 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-3946

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2010

Stig Berge Matthiesen and Ståle Einarsen

This article examines the phenomenon and concept of bullying in the workplace. Workplace bullying is a form of interpersonal aggression that can be both flagrant and subtle, but…

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Abstract

This article examines the phenomenon and concept of bullying in the workplace. Workplace bullying is a form of interpersonal aggression that can be both flagrant and subtle, but is mainly characterized by its persistency and long term duration. The relationships between bullying and related concepts such as workplace aggression and interpersonal conflict are discussed. With reference to previous empirical research as well as theoretical contributions, an attempt is made to clarify some important aspects about the phenomenon, such as various subtypes of workplace bullying. Empirical findings on prevalence, antecedents and outcome factors are outlined and reviewed. The paper also discusses the dose-response perspective.

Details

International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1093-4537

Article
Publication date: 28 July 2022

Muhammad Waseem Bari, Qurrahtulain Khan and Asad Waqas

This paper aims to investigate the direct relationship between person-related workplace bullying and dimensions of knowledge hiding. In addition, this study also intends to…

1096

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the direct relationship between person-related workplace bullying and dimensions of knowledge hiding. In addition, this study also intends to explore how relational psychological contract breach (RPCB) mediates bulling and knowledge hiding.

Design/methodology/approach

This study has used a survey-based research design to collect the data. The data were collected in three-time lags from 494 individuals working in IT-based firms (software houses) located in Pakistan. The data were analyzed through the variance-based structural equation modeling technique. For this purpose, the authors used SmartPLS3 software.

Findings

This study revealed that person-related workplace bullying impacts playing dumb and evasive knowledge hiding both directly and indirectly. In addition to this, person-related bullying does not affect rationalized knowledge hiding. This study also found that RPCB mediates the relationship between person-related bullying and knowledge hiding dimensions.

Practical implications

This study offers important implications for IT firms, including software houses. The findings imply that organizations should discourage person-related workplace bullying to reduce employees’ intention to engage in knowledge-hiding behavior. Moreover, the management of these firms should develop a culture of interpersonal trust among employees so that they can care for the relational psychological contract.

Originality/value

This study is amongst the few types of research that has investigated the impact of person-related bullying on different forms of knowledge hiding behavior through the mediating role of RPCB.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 27 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 July 2020

Arpana Rai and Upasna A. Agarwal

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between justice perceptions (distributive, procedural and interactional) and workplace bullying and to test the mediating…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between justice perceptions (distributive, procedural and interactional) and workplace bullying and to test the mediating role of psychological contract violation (PCV) in this relationship and the extent to which the mediation is moderated by power distance orientation (PDO).

Design/methodology/approach

The study draws upon quantitative data collected via self-reported survey questionnaires from 422 full-time Indian managerial employees working across different service sector–based Indian organizations.

Findings

The results revealed that justice perceptions (distributive, procedural and interactional) negatively correlated with workplace bullying. The hypothesized moderated mediation condition was supported as the results suggest that the PCV mediated the justice-bullying relationship and the PDO moderated this mediating pathway, i.e. indirect effects of justice (procedural and interactional) perceptions on workplace bullying via PCV were weaker for employees with a high PDO.

Research limitations/implications

A cross-sectional design and the use of self-reported questionnaire data in the sample are few limitations of the study.

Practical implications

This study contributes toward a better understanding of the relationships between justice, PCV and workplace bullying. It also highlights the role played by individual cultural dispositions in influencing their perceptions of workplace bullying. Given the perceptual and subjective elements of workplace bullying, understanding how justice and workplace bullying are related in not only important theoretically but also critical from a practical standpoint.

Originality/value

To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study that links justice, PCV, workplace bullying and PDO in one study. This study is also important in terms of its context.

Article
Publication date: 21 October 2022

Maria Tresita Paul Vincent, Nimmi P.M., Geetha Jose, Anjali John and Vijay Kuriakose

This study aims to explore how family incivility is linked to workplace bullying among employees. This study examines the role of psychological safety as an explanatory mechanism…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore how family incivility is linked to workplace bullying among employees. This study examines the role of psychological safety as an explanatory mechanism linking both. This paper also looks into the moderating roles of optimism between family incivility and psychological safety and organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) between psychological safety and workplace bullying.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing from the conservation of resources theory and work home resources model, this study developed various hypotheses. The proposed relationships were tested using responses gathered from 260 teaching faculty across the universities in India. This study used Warp-PLS for data analysis.

Findings

The findings suggest that psychological safety mediated the relationship between experienced family incivility and workplace bullying. This study also found support for the mediating role of psychological safety. Further, this study has proved that trait optimism and OBSE are boundary conditions influencing the outcomes of family incivility.

Practical implications

The findings have practical implications for teachers, educational institution leaders and policymakers. This study augments the importance of cultivating optimism and OBSE to combat conflicting situations. Employees who practice optimism on a daily basis are high in psychological safety and when supported with OBSE by the institution, the impact of family incivility and its adverse effects in the workplace is reduced, curbing the instances of workplace bullying.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to establish the role of “organizational resource,” OBSE, as a coping mechanism in tackling the adverse effects of family incivility. From a resource perspective, this study is one of the first to look into the enablers and inhibitors of resource creation in an individual while experiencing family incivility.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 March 2013

Al‐Karim Samnani

This paper seeks to theorize the interpretations and reactions of targets and witnesses to subtle forms of bullying.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to theorize the interpretations and reactions of targets and witnesses to subtle forms of bullying.

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical approach was used to understand target and witness interpretations and reactions. Learned helplessness theory and social influence theory are drawn upon.

Findings

This paper revealed that subtle forms of bullying behaviors will be more likely to induce confusion from both targets and witnesses. Targets will tend to be more confused in response to subtle bullying and attribute environmental factors for the behaviors. This will decrease their likelihood to react against the bullying. Witnesses will also experience greater confusion and will tend to side with the perpetrator, particularly when the perpetrator is an important organizational member (e.g. supervisor). Witnesses may internalize the behaviors, leading to greater permeability of the bullying through the organization.

Originality/value

This paper sheds light on two important and under‐researched aspects of workplace bullying, i.e. subtle bullying behaviors and witnesses of bullying. This paper counter‐intuitively suggests that subtle bullying behaviors may in fact be more harmful to targets than explicit bullying behaviors. Also, witnesses may represent a “dark side” of bullying in which they enable the bullying to be increasingly difficult to defend against. This contributes to our understanding of the intensification of bullying.

Details

Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 28 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-3946

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 March 2018

Mille Mortensen and Charlotte Andreas Baarts

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interplay of organizational humorous teasing and workplace bullying in hospital work life in order to investigate how workplace bullying

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the interplay of organizational humorous teasing and workplace bullying in hospital work life in order to investigate how workplace bullying can emerge from doctors and nurses experiences of what, at first, appears as “innocent” humorous interactions.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on an ethnographic field study among doctors and nurses at Rigshospitalet (University Hospital of Copenhagen, Denmark) field notes, transcriptions from two focus groups and six in-depth interviews were analyzed using a cross-sectional thematic analysis.

Findings

This study demonstrates how bullying may emerge out of a distinctive joking practice, in which doctors and nurses continually relate to one another with a pronounced degree of derogatory teasing. The all-encompassing and omnipresent teasing entails that the positions of perpetrator and target persistently change, thereby excluding the position of bystander. Doctors and nurses report that they experience the humiliating teasing as detrimental, although they feel continuously forced to participate because of the fear of otherwise being socially excluded. Consequently, a concept of “fluctuate bullying” is suggested wherein nurses and doctors feel trapped in a “double bind” position, being constrained to bully in order to avoid being bullied themselves.

Originality/value

The present study add to bullying research by exploring and demonstrating how workplace bullying can emerge from informal social power struggles embedded and performed within ubiquitous humorous teasing interactions.

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5648

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5648

1 – 10 of over 2000