Workplace Bullying, Mental Health and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

This chapter presents the results of research aimed at explaining the relationships between workplace bullying, mental health and job satisfaction of the respondents, taking into account the moderating role of the three stress-coping styles, i.e. the task-oriented style, the emotion-oriented style and avoidance-oriented style. The research covered 1,051 teachers employed in 120 educational institutions. Ninety-three victims of workplace bullying were identified (9% of all respondents) in the study group. The results have shown that none of the investigated stress-coping styles had a significant impact on the relationship between workplace bullying and its negative effects on mental health and job satisfaction. Undoubtedly, this can be explained by the highly traumatic nature of workplace bullying experiences, endured by the victims for long periods of time. Therefore, workplace bullying can be counted among those objective, universal stressors that most workers, regardless of their perception, will experience as a severe stress that no coping strategy is effective in dealing with. The conclusion has important practical implications, i.e. mitigating workplace bullying should consist primarily of prevention at the organizational level, i.e. training managers, implementation of an anti-harassment and workplace bullying policy, or educating workers in this regard.