Understanding Workplace Bullying from Two Perspectives

Abstract

Culture and cultural norms affect how bullying is understood in various countries. In this research, we explore what bullying entails, why it occurs, and how culture might affect these perceptions from the Human Resource (HR) Professionals’ perspective. Using qualitative research methods, we juxtapose findings from in-depth interviews with HR Professionals from the Persian Gulf (Bahrain and Saudi Arabia) and the United States. The U.S. participants perceived freedom, diversity, and capitalism as drivers for the acceptability of bullying behaviors, while in the Persian Gulf, gender, respect of authority, and social/religious norms help to frame the perceptions of bullying among the participants. We found that bullying and all related inappropriate workplace behavior is unacceptable in the Bahraini and Saudi workplaces, stakeholders privilege relationships over the bottom line, while, in the United States, our interviewees suggested that many bullying behaviors can be acceptable in businesses that are driven by profit and competition. These findings along with others are discussed as well as related implications.