Workplace bullying, employee performance and behaviors

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether two factors of affective psychological well-being, job satisfaction, and work-related depression, play a role in mediating the relationship between workplace bullying as a social stressor at work and three forms of employee performance or behaviors: task performance, individual-targeted citizenship behavior (OCB-I), and interpersonal counterproductive work behavior (CWB-P). Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopted a cross-sectional survey research design which captured a sample of 262 employees across a number of organizations in a small developing country in the Caribbean region. Findings – The findings revealed that job satisfaction alone partially mediated the relationship between workplace bullying and task performance, whereas work-related depression alone partially mediated the relationship between workplace bullying and OCB-I. Both job satisfaction and work-related depression partially mediated the relationship between workplace bullying and CWB-P. Research limitations/implications – The paper utilized a cross-sectional self-report survey research design which does not permit causal inferences to be made. Longitudinal research is needed to further investigate these relationships reported here. Practical implications – Management must seek to deal with the emergence of workplace bullying through their human resource management policies and practices as well as encouraging positive interpersonal work climates and cultures among employees. Originality/value – The paper is the first to investigate how various elements of psychological well-being can serve to mediate the relationship between workplace bullying and performance outcomes.