Academic Mobbing Research Articles

Destructive Leadership and Organizational Culture as the Predecessors of Academic Mobbing

While global trends like university rankings and neoliberal policies have changed the operation of the higher education systems worldwide, they brought a new managerial understanding that prioritized competition and quantification of performance over collegiality and quality. This transformation rendered values like trust and professionalism hollow, weakened the relationships among faculty and directors, and eventually prepared a suitable ground for mobbing to flourish. The study aims to examine the phenomenon of academic mobbing from the perspectives of Turkish faculty based on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Model. 12 semi-structured in-depth interviews with the targeted faculty working at different universities in Ankara, İstanbul, Konya and Eskişehir were conducted. The major findings of the study were as follows: the perpetrators of mobbing were the directors who adopted autocratic and laissez-faire leadership styles and had good relationships with in-group members; academic culture was described with threat, fear, jealousy, humiliation, high-powerdistance and collectivisms, all of which triggered mobbing; the targeted faculty were determined, strong and self-confident in nature as well as impulsive and aggressive at times; mobbing predominantly ended in resignation, psychological and psychosomatic problems, and the lack of belonging; the top two coping strategies were getting social support and facing the mobbers; and the most frequent suggestions were for leaders to ensure meritocracy, for faculty to leave the institution the soonest time possible, and for the state to create a mobbing law. Finally, it is recommended that democratic and transformative leadership styles be used at universities and independent expert groups inspect them.

Examining the Relationship between Academic Mobbing and Meaningful Work in Universities

This study aimed to examine the relationship between academic mobbing and meaningful work according to the views of academics. The research sample of the study consists of 489 academicians working at various state universities in Turkey. Research data were collected through e-mail using mobbing and meaningful work scales. The t-test was used for pairwise comparisons between variables. One-way ANOVA was preferred in triple or more comparisons. Pearson correlation test was used to reveal the relationship between academic mobbing and meaningful work. Also, regression analysis was used to determine whether academic mobbing predicts meaningful work. According to the results of the research, while the academics found their professions to be moderately-high-level meaningful, they stated that they perceived academic mobbing at a low level. It was observed that there were differences in the high motivation dimension of the meaningful work according to the gender variable and that there were differences between the views of male and female academicians in all dimensions of academic mobbing, except for the dimension of attacks on social relations. According to the gender variable, it was observed that there were differences between the opinions of female and male academics in the high motivation dimension of meaningful work and in all dimensions of academic mobbing except the dimension of attacks on social relations. According to the title variable, it was found that academicians with a high title in all dimensions, except for high motivation, found their works more meaningful. Still, the perception of academic mobbing did not differ according to the title. In addition, it was found that there is a significant and negative relationship between academic mobbing and meaningful work. What is more, academic mobbing was found to predict meaningful work. Based on these results, some suggestions have been made for practitioners and researchers conducting similar studies.

Ideacide: How On-Line Petitions and Open Letters Undermine Academic Freedom and Free Expression

This article investigates two recent cases of academic mobbing in the United States. The first concerns Bruce Gilley, whose paper "The Case for Colonialism," published in Third World Quarterly, was heavily criticized by the academic left. The second concerns Rebecca Tuvel, whose article "In Defense of Transracialism," published in Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, was equally reviled. In both cases, the authors and journal editors endured extreme on-line criticism, including some death threats. The authors analyze this on-line academic bullying through the lens of social psychology. They particularly identify a scissors logic, opening up a major division between the politics of academia and the general public; a new ideology of safetyism; and a new culture of complaint. They argue that these new on-line and sociological phenomena amount to ideacide, or the attempt to extinguish ideas rather than debate them either within the academy or within the public spheres.

Academic Mobbing and Bullying Offline and Online: The Health Hazard Academia Ignores

Academic mobbing, bullying, and cyberbullying are pervasive and interconnected harms in academe with scarce conversation and intervention devoted to them. The author discusses what these dynamics are and asserts academia and academic institutions are incubators and beneficiaries of these aggressions. The text illustrates some of the violent consequences for targets of these abuses, refuting other conceptualizations that downplay the severity of academic mobbing and bullying. The author also argues that understanding of academic mobbing and bullying must extend to cyberspace. The text concludes with how both tactical disregard and notions of the academy as a just exemplar sustains these harms.

THE PROBLEM OF ACADEMIC GENDER MOBBING IN TURKISH UNIVERSITIES

The issue of academic mobbing is growing at an alarming rate in Turkish universities. This is a negative practice whereby outspoken and ethical scholars are attacked. These scholars are always kicking against bad practices in society. They possess knowledge that most people consider intimidating. These actions are usually initiated by their lesser administrators and colleagues. Based on this, it is crucial to know how this problem starts and deteriorates among colleagues. This research study will be aiming to determine mobbing behavior prevalence as exposed by superiors, the dean and heads of departments. Various subtopics will be analyzed and discussed in this paper like faculty outcomes, ethics, and envy twinge. These are all related to rectors, university presidents, provosts, department chairs, deans, policymakers, academic leaders, researchers, academicians, and many others.

Academic mobbing: a threat to university reputation and integrity

Academic mobbing: a threat to university reputation and integrity

Mobbing Davranışlarının Öğrenci Tükenmişliğine Etkisi: Spor Bilimleri Fakültesi Lisans Öğrencileri Üzerinde Ampirik Bir İnceleme

Bu çalışmada mobbing davranışlarının üniversite öğrencilerinin tükenmişliği üzerine etkisi incelenmiştir. Veriler bir devlet üniversitesinin spor bilimleri fakültesindeki öğrencilerinden (n=223) elde edilmiştir. Mobbing davranışlarını ölçmek için Einarsen ve diğerleri (2009) tarafından geliştirilen Negatif Davranışlar Ölçeği’nin öğrencilere yönelik versiyonu kullanılmıştır. Öğrencilere yönelik versiyon bu çalışmada geliştirilmiş ve “Negatif Davranışlar Ölçeği-Öğrenci” olarak adlandırılmıştır. Ölçeğin geçerliliği için hem açımlayıcı hem de doğrulayıcı faktör analizi uygulanmıştır. Ayrıca, ölçeğin güvenirliği için Cronbach’s alpha katsayısı hesaplanmıştır. Geçerlik ve güvenirlik analizleri yüksek değerler göstermiş ve sonuçta ölçeğin 12 maddeli ve iki boyutlu yapısı (akademik mobbing ve akademik olmayan mobbing) ortaya çıkmıştır. Diğer taraftan, öğrencilerin tükenmişliğini ölçmek için “Maslach Tükenmişlik Envanteri-Öğrenci” kullanılmıştır. Daha sonra çalışmanın amacı doğrultusunda değişkenler arasındaki ilişkiler hiyerarşik regresyon analizi ile incelenmiştir. Sonuçlar mobbing davranışlarının öğrenci tükenmişliğini anlamlı ve pozitif yönde etkilediğini göstermiştir (β=,350; p<0,01).

Academic Mobbing in Relation to Leadership Practices: A New Perspective on an Old Issue

Constant pressures emanating from internal and external environments of the academy have resulted in many changes, one of which is the workplace mobbing, an old issue for the broader field of organization science but a relatively new phenomenon in the academic context. This study investigated the relationship between workplace mobbing and academic leadership and the results indicated that the more positive leadership there is in an institution, the less mobbing behaviors are observed.

The Story Only Few Can Tell: Exploring the Disproportionately Gendered Professoriate in Business Schools

In American business schools, the higher the position, the lower the female representation, especially when including additional intersections of identity such as race, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. Our article aims to supplement existing research regarding gender bias and underrepresentation in academia, particularly in business schools. Such research can uncover faculty gender issues, work toward mitigating the existing biases related to diversity and inclusion, and bring a needed voice and discussion for the purpose of moving toward solutions. To build our hypotheses, we provide a literature review regarding academic satisfaction, perceived performance weight–teaching and perceived performance weight–service differences between genders, and gender issues with the academic pipeline to full professor. Next, we utilize data collected from a sample of n = 696 academics from American business schools and find that women faculty have significantly lower academic satisfaction throughout all ranks and institutions. Our results further indicate that there are differences in perceived performance weight–teaching and perceived performance weight–service between female and male academics at the ranks of assistant and full professors at various types of institutions. Last, we offer conclusions and implications, limitations, and future research suggestions that include studies regarding intersectional faculty, academic mobbing and bullying, incivility, and academic satisfaction.

Peer mentorship: a powerful buffer against those with legitimate right and power to bully subordinates

ABSTRACTWe used collective analytical autoethnography (CAAE) to investigate experiences of academic bullying and mobbing in our study. Specifically, four autoethnographers shared and analyzed personal experiences of being mobbed and bullied, described their perceptions of workplace bullying, its manifestations, and explored the emotional, social, psychological and career consequences associated with being bullied and mobbed at work. In addition, the autoethnographers reflected on different resources used to cope with mobbing and bullying experiences and revealed – peer mentorship and social support – as instrumental in helping them cope with both the physical and emotional distresses associated with the bullying and mobbing experiences. Implications from the findings and suggestions for future research are also presented.

THE IMPACT OF MOBBING ON LABOR PRODUCTIVITY IN TERMS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND LAW: AN APPLICATION IN ACADEMIC WORLD

This study researches mobbing in labor relations. Even though mobbing could have encountered in all sectors, the education sector needs to be considered separately as it relates to the welfare level of society. It should be aimed at universities and academicians, who are one of the determinants of the development levels of their countries, study without any pressure on the quality of education. The analysis is based on a unique survey conducted with 418 academicians in every position in Istanbul universities in November 2016 to March 2017. The findings of the research revealed that productivity was strongly correlated with mobbing. Besides that, it was connected with academic freedom, self-confidence, the freedom to decide and practice and freedom of expression. For the above reason, our study aims to determine how the academicians of foundation universities in Istanbul-Turkey are affected by mobbing they exposed to in their organizations and also to understand the perspective of the Turkish judiciary on the academic mobbing events by analyzing Supreme Court decisions.

My Campus Administration, Faculty Association and Me: Academic Mobbing and Sweetheart Unionism

This paper recounts recent experiences of mine with the University of British Columbia (UBC) Faculty Association (UBCFA) and its relationship with my campus administration at UBC Okanagan campus (UBCO). The paper is couched in terms of the concepts of academic mobbing and sweetheart unionism. The paper is one of a series of papers I have written and published in recent years on the institutional analysis of UBC, especially UBCO and the UBCFA. This wider scope of research is found in Wylie and Campbell (2017) and Wylie (2017, 2018a, 2018b, 2018c).

Bullying and Mobbing in Academe:A Literature Review

This review of the current state of literature in regards to academic mobbing found that the most common types of bullying were psychological and emotional attacks, often directed towards an academic by either administrators, other academics and faculty, or even students. Many risk factors are related to academic mobbing, including sex, sexual orientation, gender, race and ethnicity, rank or seniority, work experience, and age. Incidents of academic bullying often lead to multiple negative outcomes on victims, including physical, emotional and psychological damages, as well as various work-related and institutional consequences. Some coping strategies are summarized. Universities and academia in general, should help foster a culture and an environment of civility. More specifically, policies of respectful workplaces should be created and enforced, with a focus on reducing or eliminating incidents of academic mobbing.

Autoethnography and cognitive adaptation: two powerful buffers against the negative consequences of workplace bullying and academic mobbing

ABSTRACTWork is undoubtedly fundamental to human life, social development and the economic development of individuals, organizations and nations. However, the experience of working is not always pleasant as there are many instances where relationships between workers could deteriorate, leading to practices and behaviours that could be characterized as workplace bullying and/or mobbing. The current study is an exploratory study which used autoethnography to investigate experiences of academic bullying and mobbing, and relates the practices to power structures in academic institutions. Specifically, the author shares personal experiences and explores the physical and emotional pain of being bullied and mobbed. The author also outlines how both autoethnography and meaning in life strategies were used to cope with the physical and emotional distresses associated with the negative experiences. By outlining the success of the meaning in life strategies, the author hopes to inspire other “victims” to move from victims to being survivors of bullying and mobbing.

Mentoring as a Way to Change a Culture of Academic Bullying and Mobbing in the Humanities

In 2009, the Chronicle of Higher Education defined ‘academic mobbing’ as ‘a form of bullying in which members of a department gang up to isolate or humiliate a colleague’. In their call for a special issue on mobbing for Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor, editors Stephen Petrina and E. Wayne Ross explain that if rumors are circulating about the target’s supposed misdeeds, if the target is excluded from meetings or not named to committees, or if people are saying the target needs to be punished formally ‘to be taught a lesson’, it’s likely that mobbing is under way. This article addresses academic mobbing at colleges and universities in the United States (US), surveying current literature on the topic and discussing three instances of mobbing in the humanities at a regional state university in the US. The article also proposes an innovative mentoring programme as a long-term solution to this problem of bullying. Specifically, this article presents a mentoring model designed by a doctoral humanities student who has herself been mobbed; this model proposes mentoring at the graduate level to counteract and, it is hoped, eventually eliminate a culture of mobbing in the humanities at the doctoral student’s current university and other schools. The graduate mentoring programme presented in this article seeks to change a culture of mobbing into one of cooperation and support, by helping the next generation of academics live up to the true creative, collaborative potential of the humanities.

Mobbing in the Context of a Woman's Life

This article describes the traumatic experience of a target of workplace mobbing in the context of one strong, mature, and resilient woman's life. Whereas personal stories can easily get lost in statistical surveys and theoretical treasties, this description of one woman's experience stands to deepen our understanding of the consequences of mobbing. This article is a product of the Research Program on Academic Mobbing at the University of Waterloo, Canada, under the direction of Kenneth Westhues, Professor of Sociology.

Beyond Bullies and Victims: Using Case Story Analysis and Freirean Insight to Address Academic Mobbing

Khoo (2010) defines academic mobbing as “a non-violent, sophisticated, ‘ganging up’ behaviour adopted by academicians to ‘wear and tear’ a colleague down emotionally through unjustified accusation, humiliation, general harassment and emotional abuse” (p. 61). Academic mobbing involves the cultivation of norms that reinforce a sense of belonging that is explicitly connected with a concomitant consciousness – and validation – of “othering.” While the behaviors associated with academic mobbing must be identified and addressed, without focusing on the underlying cultural contexts, the problem will not be resolved. Case story analysis offers the potential to examine and ameliorate academic mobbing in ways that complicate the roles of participants and provide a safe means of investigating causal forces without essentializing (or revealing) identities. This article offers an explanation of case story analysis, particularly as it applies to academic mobbing. The analysis will be coupled with “on the ground” experiences of academic mobbing and conclude with the possibilities of using case story analysis as a means of reculturing, with the ultimate aim of creating workplaces that reflect principles of social justice.

Of Sticks and Stones, Words that Wound, and Actions Speaking Louder: When Academic Bullying Becomes Everyday Oppression

This article takes up Tyler Clementi's suicide and the It Gets Better YouTube campaign in response to it as occasions to complicate oppression in the context of academic workplaces. The article distinguishes vulgar oppression as a mass disciplining/disciplinary mechanism (like Clementi's death and the media coverage of it and the subsequent criminal trial) from oppression as tactics (like bullying and mobbing) workers use to leverage for power and status. The author uses his own experience with everyday academic mobbing as a cautionary tale for pre-tenure and LGBTQ faculty.

Pathogenic Versus Healthy Biofilms: A Metaphor for Academic Mobbing

In this article, I draw on the nature of biofilms as a metaphor for academic mobbing. Just as microbial populations form microcolonies that produce either healthy or pathogenic biofilms, populations of academics produce either healthy or pathogenic departments. Just as prebiotics and probiotics can be used to promote healthy microcolonies and biofilms, administrative and peer-to-peer interventions can promote healthy departments.