Victims Of Workplace Bullying Research Articles

What Legal Protections Do Victims of Bullies in the Workplace Have?

Workplace bullying has evolved into an insidious, pervasive workplace issue. However, very few investigations have utilized comprehensive research methods to gain an understanding of how victims of bullying fare when pursuing their rights in courts. The plaintiffs are not suing for bullying; they are suing because the bullying violated some other law, such as an antidiscrimination law or some form of constitutional protection. Using policy capturing of litigated federal court cases, we find that victims of workplace bullying prevailed in 15.6% (82 out of 524) of the cases. The most frequently identified reasons for filing a cause of action were retaliation, harassment, discrimination, civil rights, constitutional amendments, state laws, and unlawful termination. The plaintiff success rate is an above-average rate because other studies have found even lower success rates for plaintiffs suing under similar laws for reasons unrelated to bullying. The present study provides guidance for victims of workplace bullies and their attorneys who are considering pursuing their rights upon being bullied in the workplace.

Specific Characteristics Distinguishing Winning from Losing: Litigated Workplace Bullying Cases

The traditional thinking in employee relations is that victims of workplace bullying are not legally protected from consequences in the workplace. Individuals are bullied and have no specific, legal recourse. However, 522 cases dating from 2006 to 2008 were analyzed using the terms “bully” or “bullying” and “employee.” The source of the cases was the BNA database of litigated cases. The cases were examined to identify characteristics leading to case outcomes for victims of workplace bullying. The following were found to be statistically significant by a chi-square analysis: the National Labor Relations Act, the False Claims Act, state laws, and unfair pay. The results indicate that victims were better protected by state law than by federal discrimination laws.

Effects of workplace bullying on Chinese children\u2019s health, behaviours and school adjustment via parenting: study protocol for a longitudinal study

BackgroundBullying in the workplace is a serious public health issue. As a chronic work stress, workplace bullying places the victims’ physical and mental health at risk which, in extreme cases, may lead to suicidal ideation. The high prevalence rate of workplace bullying has been reported and documented globally. However, a major limitation of the existing literature is that studies essentially focus on the consequences of workplace bullying on victims, including the psychological, physiological and socioeconomic impacts, and on the factors causing workplace bullying, but research on the impact of workplace bullying on the victims’ families is lacking. It is however evident that the consequences of workplace bullying have a spillover effect on the victims’ family members. Since many victims have children and given that children are particularly vulnerable to a negative family environment, examining the impacts of the type of parental stress induced by workplace bullying on children’s health including physical and psychological health (depression and self-esteem), externalizing problem behaviors (aggression, lying, disrespect) and school adjustment (academic performance and school conduct) is urgently needed. The overall aim of this study is to examine how health, externalizing problem behaviors and school adjustment of children whose parents are victims of workplace bullying may be associated with the impact that workplace bullying has on parenting practices.MethodsIt is a longitudinal study. Quantitative data will be collected from multi-informants, including currently employed Chinese parents, their children aged between 6 and 12 years old, and their class teachers at two time points, separated by a 1-year interval. One primary school will be recruited from each district of Hong Kong including participants with different socioeconomic backgrounds. At least 837 dyads (parents and children) from 18 primary schools will join the study.DiscussionWorkplace bullying not only affects victims but can also be harmful to their families as it alters the victims temper in the family environment. Results will be informative for the government and corporations to make concerted efforts and find strategies to prevent workplace bullying and to heighten the awareness of the importance of promoting safe and respectful workplaces for workers.

The moderating effect of laissez‐faire leadership on the relationship between co‐worker conflicts and new cases of workplace bullying: A true prospective design

In line with the work environment hypothesis, interpersonal conflict has been proposed as an important antecedent of workplace bullying. However, longitudinal studies on this relationship have been scarce. The aim of this study was to examine whether co‐worker conflict predicted new cases of self‐reported workplace bullying 2 years later and whether laissez‐faire leadership moderated this relationship. In a sample of 1,772 employees, drawn from the Norwegian working population, the hypotheses that co‐worker conflict increased the risk of subsequently reporting being a victim of workplace bullying and that laissez‐faire leadership strengthened this relationship were supported. This study empirically supports the work environment hypothesis by showing that co‐worker conflict within a true prospective research design is a source of new cases of bullying and that the lack and avoidance of leadership, through the enactment of a laissez‐faire leadership style, likely is a main source for co‐worker conflict to develop into workplace bullying.

Workplace bullying: a neglected and overlooked phenomenon in the corporate cultures of Bangladesh

This paper critically examines the workplace bullying scenario in Bangladesh by focusing on the individual experiences of employees working in various corporate jobs. The study employs qualitative methodology to analyse data collected from 27 individuals working in various private organisations in Bangladesh. The data were collected through email interviews and follow-up discussions. Findings indicate that, employees are increasingly falling victims of workplace bullying due to poor organisation culture, inefficient leadership, misuse of power and reluctance of management. Moreover, prolonged history of bullying may result in severe psychological effects, such as, anxiety, depression, stress and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as well as affect employee's productivity, effectiveness, creativity and physical health. Based on the findings, the paper recommends policies and procedures to minimise the effect of workplace bullying. As this issue is still under-researched in Bangladesh, the study makes an empirical contribution to the literature on workplace bullying.

Workplace bullying: a neglected and overlooked phenomenon in the corporate cultures of Bangladesh

This paper critically examines the workplace bullying scenario in Bangladesh by focusing on the individual experiences of employees working in various corporate jobs. The study employs qualitative methodology to analyse data collected from 27 individuals working in various private organisations in Bangladesh. The data were collected through email interviews and follow-up discussions. Findings indicate that, employees are increasingly falling victims of workplace bullying due to poor organisation culture, inefficient leadership, misuse of power and reluctance of management. Moreover, prolonged history of bullying may result in severe psychological effects, such as, anxiety, depression, stress and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as well as affect employee's productivity, effectiveness, creativity and physical health. Based on the findings, the paper recommends policies and procedures to minimise the effect of workplace bullying. As this issue is still under-researched in Bangladesh, the study makes an empirical contribution to the literature on workplace bullying.

Workplace bullying among nurses working in tertiary hospitals in Enugu, southeast Nigeria: Implications for health workers and job performance

Background : Workplace bullying among nurses has been identified as a major contributor to poor attitude towards duties, and reduction in overall productivity. This study examined the occurrence and effects of behaviors that constitute workplace bullying among nurses in tertiary hospitals in Enugu, Southeast Nigeria. Methods : Data were collected from 286 nurses working in 4 tertiary hospitals in Enugu State, Southeast, Nigeria, using a modified 22-item Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ) for measuring bullying behaviors in the workplace, and a 26-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) for measuring the impact of bullying. Results : The prevalence of workplace bullying among nurses working in tertiary hospitals in Enugu is reported to be high. Data provided by the respondents in relation to prevalence was greatly affected by poor knowledge of what constitutes workplace bullying among nurses. A total of 82.6% of the respondents reported that they have been victims of workplace bullying. Behaviors observed most (on daily basis) over the 6-month period preceding the study include gossiping (22.0%), backbiting (18.7%), excessive workload without supervision (17.3%), failure to respect privacy (13.1%), intimidation (12.6%), humiliating someone in front of others including patients (12.1%) and unfair allocation of job and postings (8.4%). The main perpetrators of workplace bullying were identified by 76% of the respondents as senior nurses overseeing hospital wards/units, 84.1% of the respondents also indicated that nurses in junior cadre were the main targets. Female nurses were identified as the main perpetrators and targets of workplace bullying among nurses by 93.9% and 92.1% of the respondents respectively. The reported impact of workplace bullying among nurses include anger (50.5%), an intention to travel abroad because of the feeling that the prevalence is less there (33.6%), anxiety (21.5%), frustration (16.8%) and strained social relationships amongst colleagues (11.2%). Conclusions : Workplace bullying (mainly from senior nurses to junior ones) is highly prevalent and has significant impact on the health, job performance and retention rate of nurses working in tertiary hospitals in Enugu. Poor knowledge of what constitutes workplace bullying among nurses, relational aggression and female oppression have great implication in the prevalence, nature of bullying behaviors exhibited, characteristics of the perpetrators and the outcome of workplace bullying among the nurses. In order to reduce the prevalence of workplace bullying among nurses working in tertiary hospitals in Enugu, the nurses do not only require education on what constitutes workplace bullying, they also need adequate information about how to communicate respectfully with each other in the workplace. Nurse leaders and hospital administrators should also constitute disciplinary committees, encourage nurses to report the incidence of workplace bullying, punish perpetrators as well as protect those who report the cases from further attacks of bullying through establishment of policies to regulate interpersonal relationships among nurses.

Workplace Bullying: Lessons From the Special Events Industry

It is estimated that more than 53.5 million workers have been the victim of workplace bullying in the US. The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of workplace bullying behaviors in the special events industry. A survey of 447 hospitality workers indicated that special events workers witness significantly less bullying behaviors than their non-special events hospitality counterparts. Specifically, special events workers reported witnessing less of the following bullying behaviors: "exclusion," "gossip," "glaring," "space invasion," "intimidating discipline," "innuendo and sarcasm," "wrongful judgment," "public shaming," and "work left for others" than workers in all other facets of the hospitality industry. Practical implications and recommendations for future study are provided.

Estimating the Impact of Workplace Bullying: Humanistic and Economic Burden among Workers with Chronic Medical Conditions

Background. Although the prevalence of work-limiting diseases is increasing, the interplay between occupational exposures and chronic medical conditions remains largely uncharacterized. Research has shown the detrimental effects of workplace bullying but very little is known about the humanistic and productivity cost in victims with chronic illnesses. We sought to assess work productivity losses and health disutility associated with bullying among subjects with chronic medical conditions. Methods. Participants (N = 1717) with chronic diseases answered a self-administered survey including sociodemographic and clinical data, workplace bullying experience, the SF-12 questionnaire, and the Work Productivity Activity Impairment questionnaire. Results. The prevalence of significant impairment was higher among victims of workplace bullying as compared to nonvictims (SF-12 PCS: 55.5% versus 67.9%, p < 0.01; SF-12 MCS: 59.4% versus 74.3%, p < 0.01). The adjusted marginal overall productivity cost of workplace bullying ranged from 13.9% to 17.4%, corresponding to Italian Purchase Power Parity (PPP) 2010 US$ 4182–5236 yearly. Association estimates were independent and not moderated by concurrent medical conditions. Conclusions. Our findings demonstrate that the burden on workers' quality of life and productivity associated with workplace bullying is substantial. This study provides key data to inform policy-making and prioritize occupational health interventions.

Exploring Victims' Experiences of Workplace Bullying: A Grounded Theory Approach

Despite considerable research on workplace bullying, trying to identify causal relationships and measurements of specific constructs, there is a need to draw from the experiences and feelings of the targets of workplace bullying. The current study explores the victims' experiences from an interpretive perspective in the context of Information Technology organizations in India. The qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with the victims of workplace bullying. The analysis using grounded theory approach resulted in a conceptual model, which explains the antecedents, bullying behaviours, consequences, and self-coping methods of the victims. Job demands, leadership and management styles of the supervisor, and interpersonal conflict emerged as the major antecedents of workplace bullying. The victims' inability to adapt to changes was found as a personality factor that stimulated workplace bullying in the presence of other antecedents. The study reveals that although the victims experienced negative bullying behaviours in their daily life, most of them were unaware of the phenomenon. Some of the new bullying behaviours identified from the current study are taking ownership of others'work without giving due credit, grabbing others' challenging assignments, and repeated borrowing of money without returning. The victims experienced various negative emotions as the initial reaction to bullying behaviours. As the bullying behaviours prolonged, the participants experienced various personal and work-related consequences. The self-coping mechanisms identified in the study were sharing emotional experiences with friends and family, having an easy-going attitude, voicing the issues, and perceived organizational support (POS). POS was considered to be important for having an influence on employee turnover intention and organizational commitment. Based on the POS, three categories of victims were identified — Leavers, Survivors, and Loyals. The paper contributes to the body of knowledge as it brings out the experiences and feelings of the targets of workplace bullying. The detailed knowledge of the phenomenon helps the organization to either intervene or prevent the relevant processes. The study suggests that the victims need to be empowered with awareness programmes and organizational support to reduce the effects of workplace bullying.

South African teachers’ exposure to workplace bullying

Research on workplace bullying (WPB) in occupations, identified teaching as a high risk job. Yet there is a dearth of research on WPB among teachers. The aim of this study is to contribute to the limited body of knowledge on the prevalence of WPB within an international and South African schooling context. This article reports on results from an exploratory study on South African teachers’ exposure to WPB. Self-reporting questionnaires were completed by a convenient, voluntary sample of teachers (n=999). The respondents had to indicate their exposure to 43 pre-defined acts of WPB clustered into four categories. This study exposes the commonness of WPB among participating teachers: 90.8% of them were victims of WPB during the 12 months that preceded the study, and 89.1% of the victims had been exposed to at least two different categories of WPB. The perpetrators tried especially to undermine the victims’ professional status and isolate them. The study identified the constant evaluation of victims’ performance as the most common of the 43 negative acts. The results are discussed with reference to other studies. It is concluded that WPB is a serious problem in South African schools and needs to be addressed on policy and institutional levels.

The world turns at 33 and 45: Defining simple cutoff scores for the Negative Acts Questionnaire–Revised in a representative sample

Workplace bullying is a serious hazard in every day working life that needs to be assessed carefully. In order to achieve such a goal, both victims of severe bullying as well as targets of less intensive bullying need to be identified, the latter in order to prevent further escalation into severe bullying. Previous research has mainly offered simple and crude measures of who is and who is not a victim of bullying. In this article we show how cutoff scores for the scale Negative Acts Questionnaire–Revised (NAQ-R) can be calculated. Based on a representative sample of the Norwegian workforce, we formulated 2 cutoff points or thresholds for the NAQ-R with a Receiver Operation Characteristic curve. Employees with a score lower than 33 are not bullied, employees with a score between 33 and 45 may be considered as being bullied occasionally, and employees who score above 45 can be considered to be victims of workplace bullying. As the NAQ-R is used in more than 300 research projects worldwide, we hope to inspire other scholars to define similar cutoff points. In addition, we hope that clear cutoff scores may be of assistance to practitioners for designing interventions regarding workplace bullying in line with the identified problems.

Identifying Victims of Workplace Bullying by Integrating Traditional Estimation Approaches Into a Latent Class Cluster Model

Research findings underline the negative effects of exposure to bullying behaviors and document the detrimental health effects of being a victim of workplace bullying. While no one disputes its negative consequences, debate continues about the magnitude of this phenomenon since very different prevalence rates of workplace bullying have been reported. Methodological aspects may explain these findings. Our contribution to this debate integrates behavioral and self-labeling estimation methods of workplace bullying into a measurement model that constitutes a bullying typology. Results in the present sample (n = 1,619) revealed that six different groups can be distinguished according to the nature and intensity of reported bullying behaviors. These clusters portray different paths for the workplace bullying process, where negative work-related and person-degrading behaviors are strongly intertwined. The analysis of the external validity showed that integrating previous estimation methods into a single measurement latent class model provides a reliable estimation method of workplace bullying, which may overcome previous flaws.

The presumption of mutual influence in occurrences of workplace bullying: time for change

PurposeThe self‐reports of bullies or victims of workplace bullying appear to result in confused responses that fail to clarify who is doing what to whom. The research reported in this paper aimed to examine how staff from human resources and occupational health conceptualized and assessed cases of alleged bullying.Design/methodology/approachThe research relied on semi‐structured interviews with managers, human resource staff, occupational health staff, mediators, trade union representatives, and staff members who were both victims and alleged perpetrators of bullying. The staff contributing came from an NHS trust, two universities and a criminal justice agency.FindingsStaff were reluctant to document or reveal information about the frequency and severity of bullying within their services. Despite this, three key themes emerged from the interviews that seemed to inform individual and organisational responses: the ethos of professionalism, the ambiguous role of human resources and the presumption of mutuality.Research limitations/implicationsReliance on interpretations of workplace bullying that defend both individual staff members and the organization had implications for victims. By not naming reported problems as bullying, the organization could limit its responsibility to act. Failure to identify and document bullying limited the research but also poorly served victimized individuals.Practical implicationsServices require training to help them move beyond a presumption that the self‐reports of bullies are a reliable source of assessment data.Social implicationsEffective identification and assessment of bullying situations would be the first step towards reducing the psychological impact of the problem. Experience of workplace bullying is highly correlated with health and mental health problems of targeted individuals.Originality/valueThis paper capitalizes on insights from the field of domestic violence in highlighting the need for clarity about the nature of coercive control. The paper will be valuable to individuals and organisations charged with the task of tackling workplace bullying.

Managing Workplace Bullying

Workplace bullying is attracting increasing recognition and is an issue of concern for human resource managers and other actors in employment relations. This paper explores the concept of workplace bullying to determine its exact nature, features, sources, types, tactics and consequences of workplace bullying. It also examines how to deal with workplace bullying. The study had 280 participants selected from different organizations in the education, finance, communications and health sectors in Lagos Nigeria. Four hypotheses were tested on the relationship between work place bullying and organizational responses and attitudes, organization climate, gender and the self esteem. It found a significant relationship between gender and workplace bullying. Women tend to be more workplace bullies than men and have greater risks of becoming targets. There was a significant relationship between organizational attitudes and responses and the willingness of workers to report workplace bullying. A significant relationship was found between perceived organization culture and level of workplace bullying. Also there was a significant relationship between self esteem and workplace bullying. Victims of workplace bullying often exhibit lower levels of self-esteem and feel that their personalities caused them to be bullied.

The Impact of Workplace Bullying on Primary School Teachers and Principals

While previous research has consistently cited education as a high risk profession for negative workplace relationships, there has been little consideration of the impact of workplace bullying for those involved. This paper seeks to address this lacuna through the analysis of 24, in-depth interviews with self-identified victims of workplace bullying who work, or have worked, in primary schools. The study reveals the profound physical, psychological, social, and economic effects of these toxic behaviors upon the interviewees, along with the resistance strategies they employed to help them cope with their experiences. Through a lens of Foucauldian conceptualisation of power, this study explores the broader implications for school organizational culture, as well as for individual teachers and the pupils they teach.

Exploring Risk Groups Workplace Bullying with Categorical Data

In this study, we first explore whether different exposure groups of workplace bullying exist, employing a large, heterogeneous sample. The results show six different exposure groups: almost 30.5% is not bullied since they report hardly any negative act at work at all, 27.2% face some limited work criticism, 20.8% face limited negative encounters, 8.3% is occasionally bullied, 9.5% are predominately work related bullied, and a total of 3.6% can be seen victims of severe workplace bullying. In a second step, the relationship between the identified target groups and social demographics were investigated using multinomial logistic regression to identify risk groups of workplace bullying. Employees between the age of 35 and 54, public servants, blue-collar workers, as well as employees working in the food and manufacturing industries have a significantly elevated risk to be victims of workplace bullying. In contrast, employees younger than 25, employees with a temporary contract, teachers, nurses and assistant nurses are those least likely at risk. These findings are important for policymakers at the national and organisational level as they assist in focussing towards possible avenues to prevent workplace bullying.

Post‐Traumatic Symptoms Among Victims of Workplace Bullying: Exploring Gender Differences and Shattered Assumptions

The aims of the present study were twofold: assessing the prevalence and intensity of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in victims of bullying, and exploring whether victims of bullying differ in their basic assumptions compared to a control group. A total of 183 victims of bullying and 183 control group participants took part in the research. The results showed that 42.6% of the total sample met all DSM‐IV‐TR criteria for PTSD, whereas 54.1% did not fulfill the A1 criterion. Post‐traumatic symptoms were more prevalent among women (49%), as compared to men (35.3%). Furthermore, victims showed significantly more negative beliefs about the world, the people, and themselves, compared to their non‐bullied controls. These results fit well with cognitive theory of trauma.

Effectiveness of Bullying and Violence Prevention Programs

Workplace bullying is a significant occupational health problem worldwide. Nurses are vulnerable to workplace bullying. During interactions with staff nurses, occupational health nurses have crucial opportunities to identify victims of workplace bullying and provide effective techniques for preventing and managing workplace bullying behaviors. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify best practices for preventing and managing workplace bullying among staff nurses. The best method found to control and stop workplace bullying involves cognitive rehearsal of responses to common bullying behaviors. Translation of the 3-hour workplace bullying prevention and management program is discussed.

Effectiveness of Bullying and Violence Prevention Programs

Workplace bullying is a significant occupational health problem worldwide. Nurses are vulnerable to workplace bullying. During interactions with staff nurses, occupational health nurses have crucial opportunities to identify victims of workplace bullying and provide effective techniques for preventing and managing workplace bullying behaviors. The purpose of this systematic review was to identify best practices for preventing and managing workplace bullying among staff nurses. The best method found to control and stop workplace bullying involves cognitive rehearsal of responses to common bullying behaviors. Translation of the 3-hour workplace bullying prevention and management program is discussed.