Daily work pressure and exposure to bullying-related negative acts: The role of daily transformational and laissez-faire leadership

Kari Wik Ågotnes,Anders Skogstad,Jørn Hetland,Olav Kjellevold Olsen,Roar Espevik,Arnold B Bakker,Ståle Valvatne Einarsen

doi:10.1016/j.emj.2020.09.011

Kari Wik Ågotnes, Anders Skogstad + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2020.09.011

Copy DOI

Abstract

The present study integrates the work environment hypothesis and the effort-reward imbalance model to argue that work-related antecedents of workplace bullying are moderated by the day-to-day leadership practices of one’s immediate leader. Specifically, we propose that individuals’ daily experiences of work pressure are positively related to their daily experiences of bullying-related negative acts. Moreover, we claim that this relationship is weaker on days when those individuals report high (vs. low) levels of transformational leadership behaviour, and stronger on days when they report high (vs. low) levels of laissez-faire leadership behaviour. To test these three hypotheses, we asked 61 naval cadets on a tall ship sailing from Northern Europe to North America to fill out a diary questionnaire for 36 days yielding 1509 observations. The results of multilevel analyses supported our hypothesis of a positive relationship of cadets’ daily reports of work pressure with their daily reports of bullying-related negative acts. In addition, laissez-faire leadership behaviour (but not transformational leadership behaviour) moderated the work pressure–bullying-related negative acts relationship. Our findings support the assumption that laissez-faire leadership is an important component in the development of conflict escalation and workplace bullying, while transformational leadership is not. We discuss theoretical as well as practical implications of these findings.

Highlights

Work pressure is an increasing problem in European working life, with subsequent negative impact on individual health and psychological well-being (Eurofound, 2017; Niedhammer, Chastang, Sultan-Taieb, Vermeylen, & Parent-Thirion, 2013)
Based on empirical findings and theoretical notions from the effort-reward imbalance model and the work environment hypothesis, we propose that on days the cadets experience that their immediate supervisor avoids making decisions or delays responding to urgent questions in situations with high work pressure, those cadets will report higher exposure to bullying-related negative acts than on days they do not report laissez-faire behaviour from their immediate supervisor
We argued that on days where both work pressure and transformational leadership behaviour were high, cadets would not be experiencing an imbalance between effort made and rewards received, and would not face the negative strain associated with such an imbalance

Summary

Introduction

Work pressure is an increasing problem in European working life, with subsequent negative impact on individual health and psychological well-being (Eurofound, 2017; Niedhammer, Chastang, Sultan-Taieb, Vermeylen, & Parent-Thirion, 2013). On the other hand, constitute an essential resource in any organization with a responsibility to ensure the health and well-being of followers, at times of high work pressure. Such duty of care to cater for and guard follower health and well-being is even legally founded in most western countries Inspection Authority, 2017), and of special importance in high pressure work situations

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion