Workplace Bullying: a Study on Urban Collective Transportation

Abstract

Research in international contexts affirms that workplace bullying is frequent in collective transportation workers. The aim of this study was to identify the occurrence and to characterize workplace bullying in urban collective transportation workers from a South Brazilian capital. Participants were 382 workers who answered a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Workplace Bullying Scale (ELAM), and questions related to this violence. The results showed a difference between the number of workers identified by ELAM items as targets of bullying and those who recognized themselves in this situation. The ELAM dimension “working conditions,” which describes the difficulties the worker faced in the work environment, was the most frequent in the research sample. The direction of the most recognized violence was vertical downward, that is, practiced by the superiors. Also, singles, ticket collectors, and those with the longest working hours presented significantly higher scores on the scale, indicating that they were exposed to bullying more frequently. According to the data, organizations and unions need to strive for preventive actions of this kind of violence, mainly directed at supervisory positions and informative and instrumental actions for workers to recognize the actual situations of workplace bullying.