The Role of Organizational Culture in Preventing Workplace Bullying among Nurses in Jordan

Abstract

Background: Organizational culture has been found to relate to workplace bullying; however, available evidence on the role of organizational culture in bullying mitigation or aggravation is inconclusive. Objective: This study aimed to estimate whether types of organizational culture predict bullying behavior among nurses in Jordan. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional and predictive design was used in this study. A convenience sample of 160 nurses working in public and private hospitals completed and returned the study e-survey. Results: About 10% of nurses were exposed to workplace bullying within the last 6 months. Colleagues and other superiors/managers were the main perpetrators. Compared with other organizational cultures, task-oriented culture had the highest mean and was correlated negatively with workplace bullying. Conclusions: Workplace bullying is still considered a serious problem among nurses. Contrary to the majority of studies reporting task-oriented culture as a risk factor for bullying or its lack of relatedness to bullying behavior, in this study, task-oriented culture predicted lower bullying victimization at the workplace. Implications to Nursing: Nurse managers have a crucial role in the mitigation and prevention of workplace bullying among their staff. Managers need to be available at the unit level to observe and monitor staff behavior, ensure the implementation of code of conduct for staff and act as advocates when other unit managers bully nurses. Further research is needed to provide more information in the role of various types of organizational culture on workplace bullying. Meanwhile, task-oriented culture that focuses on work goals and productivity needs to be emphasized. Keywords: Workplace bullying, Organizational culture, Nurses.