Abstract
Adverse social behavior (ASB) by colleagues or superiors in the workplace is considered highly stressful for workers in South Korea. The authors investigate the mechanism by which ASB reduces productivity (measured in terms of sickness presenteeism (SP)), by examining the potential mediating role of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). All data are derived from the fourth Korean Working Conditions Survey, which investigated a representative sample of the working population. The authors analyze their general characteristics (age, gender, income, and education), work-related factors (job type, occupational ergonomic risk, job resource, employment contract, work schedule, working hour, and job demand), and health-related factors (self-rated health and MSDs). The authors use a two-step regression analysis to estimate the direct effect of ASB on SP and the indirect effect of SP via MSDs. The authors find that MSDs mediate 16.7% of the total effect of ASB on SP. When employment type and job conditions are considered, the role of the mediating variable in the group with a permanent contract, no shift or night work, and high working time is greater than the counterpart of each variable. Various strategies are needed to address MSDs according to the working environment, which might help limit the negative impact of ASB on SP.
Highlights
Adverse social behavior (ASB) is defined as all acts of physical and verbal violence and intimidation at work [1]
The authors used data from the fourth Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS), which was conducted by the Korean Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) in 2014 on a representative sample of the working population aged ≥15 years
The results showed that an employment contract moderated the paths from ASB to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and MSDs to sickness presenteeism (SP), both of which were larger for a permanent contractor than for a short term contractor
Summary
Adverse social behavior (ASB) is defined as all acts of physical and verbal violence and intimidation at work [1]. This term includes the acts of bullying/harassment, and violence [2]. Workplace bullying is defined as a form of long-term interpersonal aggression that can be both inhuman and persistently crafty [3]. Harassment is defined as interpersonal behavior aimed at intentionally harming another employee in the workplace [5]. This is somewhat different from bullying in that the harassment is specific to the victim’s sex, race, age, religion, disability, etc. This is somewhat different from bullying in that the harassment is specific to the victim’s sex, race, age, religion, disability, etc. [4]
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