Psychosocial influences on psychological distress and turnover intentions in the workplace

Abstract

Workplace bullying is a highly prevalent form of psychosocial hazard that has been consistently linked to a range of negative individual and organizational outcomes. In the scholarly efforts to prevent workplace bullying, psychosocial safety climate (PSC) has been reported to be a powerful predictor of employee perceptions of exposure to bullying behaviors. Alongside workplace bullying, PSC is structurally related to psychosocial health outcomes acting through the demands and resources in the work environment. Consistent with both PSC theory and the theory of social exchange, this multi-level study found that workplace bullying mediated the relationship between PSC and psychological distress and intention to quit the organization. The study also found inclusion climate buffered the relationship between workplace bullying and intention to quit, such that employees who are exposed to high workplace bullying are less likely to intend to leave the organization when they perceive a high inclusion climate, compared to those perceive a low inclusion climate.