Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore health- and work-related outcomes of cyberbullying behaviour and the potential mediating role of social organisational climate, social support from colleagues and social support from superiors.Design/methodology/approachAltogether 3,371 respondents participated in a questionnaire study.FindingsThe results of this study indicate that social organisational climate can have a mediating role in the relationship between cyberbullying behaviour and health, well-being, work engagement and intention to quit. Contrary to earlier face-to-face bullying research, the current study showed that cyberbullying behaviour had stronger indirect than direct relationships to health, well-being, work engagement and intention to quit.Practical implicationsCommunication through digital devices in work life is becoming more prevalent, which in turn increases the risk for cyberbullying behaviour. Organisations need therefore to develop occupational health and safety policies concerning the use of digital communication and social media in order to prevent cyberbullying behaviour and its negative consequences.Originality/valueCyberbullying behaviour among working adults is a relatively unexplored phenomenon and therefore this study makes valuable contribution to the research field.
Highlights
The purpose of this paper is to explore health- and work-related outcomes of cyberbullying behaviour and the potential mediating role of social organisational climate, social support from colleagues and social support from superiors
The results indicate that social support from superiors and social support from colleagues can influence the social organisational climate, and that this indirect relation is the most important explanation for how cyberbullying behaviour can influence the outcome variables
The results of this study indicate that social organisational climate can have a mediating role in the relationship between cyberbullying behaviour and health, well-being, work engagement and intention to quit
Summary
The purpose of this paper is to explore health- and work-related outcomes of cyberbullying behaviour and the potential mediating role of social organisational climate, social support from colleagues and social support from superiors. Findings – The results of this study indicate that social organisational climate can have a mediating role in the relationship between cyberbullying behaviour and health, well-being, work engagement and intention to quit. Being a relatively new phenomenon, the pioneering studies investigating cyberbullying in working life have mainly focussed on determining its prevalence (Baruch, 2005; Brack and Caltabiano, 2014; Privitera and Campbell, 2009; Farley et al, 2015; Forssell, 2016).
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