Organizational Justice and Workplace Bullying: The Experience of Nurses

Abstract

Background: Maintaining highly motivated nurses - who are committed to health care organizations - is one of the greatest challenges today. Organizational justice is a crucial indicator of successful organizations. Nurses of health care organizations that are fair in their procedures, policies, and distribution systems provide better reactions to their organizations in terms of positive behaviors and better quality of patients' outcomes. Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between organizational justice and workplace bullying among nurses. Methods: A quantitative descriptive correlational research design was used to examine the relationship between organizational justice and workplace bullying among nurses. A sample of 163 nurses was recruited from different departments at one of the university hospitals in Demiatte Governorate, Egypt. Colquitt's Organizational Justice Scale was used to measure perception of organizational justice, and Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R) to measure workplace bullying among nurses. Results: Nurses had moderate level of perceived organizational justice and mild level of bullying at workplace during the last six months (61.98, 39.88) respectively. A significant relationship between organizational justice and: gender (.008), marital status (.045), educational level (.002), and years of experience (.008) were found. Only educational level (0.54) was significantly correlated to workplace bullying. A statistically significant negative correlation between workplace bullying and organizational justice (-.119) was identified too. Conclusion: Nurse managers should create a healthy and cooperative work environment that is characterized by shared decision making and justice in all daily activities.