Employee Perceptions of Prejudice and Violence in the Workplace: Implications for Corporate Security

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Using secondary data, an analysis was conducted to determine how worker mistreatment by co-workers affects performance and well-being. Perceived negative treatment experienced because of age, sex, race, ethnicity, and education, and a group of eight less subtle forms of harassment, were used as predictors of maladaptive emotional and behavioral responses in a set of bivariate and multivariate OLS regression models. Individuals who were treated negatively because of education, as well as those kept from receiving a raise, set up for failure, treated as if they did not exist, or mistreated in a general unspecified way, were significantly more likely to react in a dysfunctional passive or aggressive manner. Potential corporate security risks stemming from unconstructive reactions in the workplace, as well as policy implementations that might forestall any security threats, are discussed in the conclusion.