Fear of Non-Employability and of Economic Crisis Increase Workplace Harassment through Lower Organizational Welfare Orientation

Gabriele Giorgi,Samuel Fernández-Salinero,Mar Ortiz-Gómez,José M León-Perez,Francesco Montani,Antonio Ariza-Montes,Nicola Mucci,Giulio Arcangeli

doi:10.3390/su12093876

Abstract

There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that economic crisis is a preeminent stressor (i.e., economic stress) that may worsen working conditions and expose individuals to negative acts at work (i.e., workplace bullying). Following an occupational health perspective that considers contextual factors as risk factors for workplace bullying, this study aims to examine the mediation effects of organizational orientation to employee welfare in the economic stress-workplace bullying relationship. A cross-sectional study with the participation of 1004 Italian workers from several organizations was conducted. Our results indicate that economic stress (composed of two dimensions: fear of the economic crisis and perceived non-employability) is associated with workplace bullying through the total mediation of organizational orientation to employee welfare. These results have relevant implications for psychosocial risk assessment in turbulent times.

Highlights

There is evidence that economic crisis produces adverse mental health effects that increase hospitalization and suicide
Our study extends previous research (a) by considering the macroeconomic context as a potential risk factor for workplace bullying in a sample of Italian employees, which seems a well-suited context to address the issue because of the turmoil of the current European sovereign debt crisis; and (b) by exploring the role of organizational orientation to employee welfare as a potential mediator of the economic stress–workplace bullying relationship; which may offer possible avenues to prevent workplace bullying in turbulent times like the ones looming because of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic [11]
In contrast to the mainstream in economic stress research, this study focuses on subjective aspects of the economic stress concept, which is operationalized in terms of fear of the economic crisis and perceived non-employability

Summary

Introduction

There is evidence that economic crisis produces adverse mental health effects that increase hospitalization and suicide (for a review, see [1]). Chang, Gunnell, Sterne, Lu and Cheng [4] found that the Asian economic crisis (1997–1998) was associated with increased suicide rates in several East and Southeast Asian countries (period analyzed: 1985–2006). They concluded “that some of the crisis’ impact on male suicides was attributable to increases in unemployment” Chang, Stuckler, Yip and Gunnell [5] compared the number of suicides in 2009 with the expected suicides based on trends before the 2008 economic crisis (period 2000–2007). They found that suicide rates increased after the economic crisis in the European Union (except in Luxembourg) and North America (Mexico, US and Canada), which can be attributed to the higher levels of job loss in such countries

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