The Relationship between Environmental Bullying and Turnover Intention and the Mediating Effects of Secure Workplace Attachment and Environmental Satisfaction: Implications for Organizational Sustainability

Abstract

Today, organizations must pay attention to countless aspects of work life to maintain high levels of organizational sustainability. One of the key aspects of organizational sustainability is maintaining low levels of turnover. In line with the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and environmental psychology, the organizational environment must sustain employee well-being, motivation and performance. However, stressors such as environmental bullying, that is, bullying behaviors involving environmental elements (i.e., not giving colleagues the opportunity to adjust the temperature of the office or making noise near a colleague’s workspace), can have destructive effects on the employee and the organization. The present work aimed to test the impact of environmental bullying on employee turnover intention. In addition, to better understand the underlying psychosocial processes, we observed the mediating role played by secure workplace attachment and satisfaction toward the work environment. Using a cross-sectional design, we conducted a survey of 182 office employees and tested a serial mediation model. Hypotheses were tested using the PROCESS macro. The results show that employees who feel bullied through manipulation of their workspace or workplace have greater intention to leave, and secure workplace attachment and environmental satisfaction play a role in this relationship. The results confirm that while the environmental characteristics of the workplace can play a supportive role by meeting the employee’s needs, environmental bullying behaviors may have an adverse effects by promoting insecure attachment and an intention to leave. To reduce turnover intention, management should carefully consider the physical–spatial characteristics of workplaces as means of developing attachment to the place and environmental satisfaction in employees.