The Problem of Workplace Bullying: Literature Review

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The Problem of Workplace Bullying: Literature Review

Workplace bullying is a phenomenon that is often observed in working settings. It is associated with targeting, mistreating, harassing individuals for the purpose of upsetting and causing emotional as well as physical harm (Bowling & Beehr, 2006). As a result of prolonged bullying, its victims become less productive, emotionally instable, and their performance becomes worse (Jóhannsdóttir & Ólafsson, 2004). Workplace bullying is viewed as a critical issue in working environments because it is a cause of many conflicts, abuse, and misunderstanding in teams (Vukeli et al., 2019). The purpose of this paper is to provide the review of the relevant literature on the topic of workplace bullying.

There are certain factors in the workplace that can be viewed as triggers for bullying and harassment. In their empirical study, Aquino and Bradfield (2000), as a result of several factor analyses, determined the following factors as influencing victimization and workplace bullying: hierarchy, negative affectivity, and aggressiveness. Aquino and Bradfield (2000) discussed the problem from the perspective of victims of bullying, and this approach was also followed by Bowling and Beehr (2006), who found that both environmental factors and victims individual differences could provoke harassment and bullying, leading to conflicts. Einarsen et al. (2009) also focused on discussing factors, and they conducted the factor structure analysis with reference to the results for the sample of 5288 employees in the UK. They found that the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R) is an appropriate instrument for measuring exposure to workplace bullying because of focusing on such factors as work-related bullying, personal bullying, and physical bullying.

Individual factors that influence bullying also include age, race, and gender among others. After conducting the factor and regression analyses, Jóhannsdóttir and Ólafsson (2004) found that gender was extremely important to determine specifics of bullying in the workplace as men tend not to report harassment, but passive responses can provoke more bullying. Schneider et al. (2000) focused on the race factor and examined the details of ethnic harassment with reference to the sample of 575 men and women. The researchers found that ethnic harassment in the form of exclusion and verbal harassment is typically observed during the first two years of working in a company.

In addition to bullying-related factors, there are also specific stressors that are associated with workplace bullying. Hauge et al. (2010) conducted a quantitative study with a focus on the sample representing employees in Norwegian companies. They concluded that workplace bullying is a major social stressor causing depression and anxiety in workers and leading to decreased job satisfaction and higher turnover intention rates. Hauge et al. (2011) referred to a larger sample including 10,000 employees and stated that role stressors and ineffective leadership approaches and practices could influence the development of workplace bullying. Thus, if working environments are unfavorable and leadership is ineffective, these stressors can provoke the bullying.

Another group of research interests included the consequences of bullying in the workplace. Vukeli et al. (2019) conducted a quantitative study involving 329 workers in Serbia, and they found that bullying directly leads to decreased job satisfaction, creating an inappropriate climate in the workplace. Naseem and Ahmed (2020), referring to the data from 2250 employees, found a direct relationship between workplace bullying and increased exhaustion, emotional problems, and presenteeism. Park et al. (2020) received similar results, focusing on the experiences of whistleblowers who reported bullying because of distress and anxiety. Thus, workplace mistreatment is associated with significant negative consequences for employees emotional state and productivity.

The review of the literature indicates that different environmental and individual factors lead to choosing some employees as victims of bullying. There are also certain job-related stressors, associated with roles and leadership, which also cause bullying. Furthermore, age, gender, and ethnicity are still reported as provoking conflicts and bullying in the workplace. Researchers also found that the practice of bullying experienced by victims in the workplace also leads to their emotional problems, including depression, presenteeism, turnover intentions, and exhaustion that negatively affect productivity and performance.

References

Aquino, K., & Bradfield, M. (2000). Perceived victimization in the workplace: The role of situational factors and victim characteristics. Organization Science, 11(5), 525-537.

Bowling, N. A., & Beehr, T. A. (2006). Workplace harassment from the victims perspective: A theoretical model and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(5), 998-1012. Web.

Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., & Notelaers, G. (2009). Measuring exposure to bullying and harassment at work: Validity, factor structure and psychometric properties of the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised. Work & Stress, 23(1), 24-44.

Hauge, L. J., Einarsen, S., Knardahl, S., Lau, B., Notelaers, G., & Skogstad, A. (2011). Leadership and role stressors as departmental level predictors of workplace bullying. International Journal of Stress Management, 18(4), 305-323. Web.

Hauge, L. J., Skogstad, A., & Einarsen, S. (2010). The relative impact of workplace bullying as a social stressor at work. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51(5), 426-433.

Jóhannsdóttir, H. L., & Ólafsson, R. F. (2004). Coping with bullying in the workplace: The effect of gender, age and type of bullying. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 32(3), 319-333.

Naseem, K., & Ahmed, A. (2020). Presenteeism is a consequence of workplace bullying: Mediating role of emotional exhaustion and moderation of climate for conflict management. Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences, 14(1), 143-166.

Park, H., Bjørkelo, B., & Blenkinsopp, J. (2020). External whistleblowers experiences of workplace bullying by superiors and colleagues. Journal of Business Ethics, 161(3), 591-601.

Schneider, K. T., Hitlan, R. T., & Radhakrishnan, P. (2000). An examination of the nature and correlates of ethnic harassment experiences in multiple contexts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(1), 3-12. Web.

Vukeli, M., izmi, S., & Petrovi, I. B. (2019). Acceptance of workplace bullying behaviors and job satisfaction: Moderated mediation analysis with coping self-efficacy and exposure to bullying. Psychological Reports, 122(5), 1883-1906.

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