Search Results (12)

(1) Background: Sexual harassment in the workplace is a problem that particularly affects women and is not an exception in the world of work. Factors such as power asymmetry, the predominantly masculinized culture in many organizations, and the potential impunity of perpetrators increase the associated risks. This study aims to analyze the psychometric properties of the Sexual Experiences Questionnaire-Workplace (SEQ-W) to measure sexual harassment at work and assess its validity in Spanish. (2) Methods: A total of 120 active female workers (67.5% European and 32.5% South American) participated, completing validated instruments to measure sexual harassment, workplace bullying, self-perceived health, and job satisfaction. The questionnaires were administered online, ensuring anonymity and explaining the study’s objectives. (3) Results: An exploratory factor analysis revealed a bifactorial structure with the dimensions “Sexual Harassment by Coercion” and “Harassment by Unwanted Sexual Attention.” Both dimensions demonstrated adequate internal consistency, concurrent validity with workplace bullying and well-being scales, and discriminant validity with job satisfaction. Additionally, a pronounced floor effect was observed, indicating a low prevalence of sexual harassment in the sample. (4) Conclusions: the SEQ-W scale is a useful tool for assessing sexual harassment among active Spanish-speaking female workers, considering its validated bidimensional structure in Spanish. Full article

Research on workplace bullying from the perpetrators’ perspective is limited, leading to few interventions tailored to them. This gap stems from insufficient understanding of how organisational conditions and individual dispositions trigger or amplify perpetrator behaviour. To develop effective interventions in preventing bullying, perceived organisational factors were examined. This study, guided by the Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) model and the three-way model of workplace bullying (WB), aims to explore the effects of perceived (im)balances in the task or employee focus, social atmosphere (positive or negative), and hierarchical structure (high or low) in organisations on the incidence of WB, both in terms of perpetrator and target experiences. The research involved 1044 employees from multiple Spanish organisations and sectors: 51.7% in services, 24.6% in education, 14.5% in wholesale and retail trade, and 9.2% in manufacturing. The average age of participants was 35.43 years (SD = 10.9), with a female majority of 61.3%. Using a cross-sectional study design, the experiences of being a target and perpetrator were quantitatively assessed through validated WB target and perpetrator scales. Additionally, the study qualitatively examined employees’ perceptions of their organisational context through free descriptions, using adjectives to depict their views. Correspondence analysis was employed to test the hypotheses, and the results affirmed them. The study found that perceived imbalances in organisational focus, social atmosphere, and hierarchy correlate with higher WB target and perpetrator reports, whereas balanced atmospheres correlate with no WB. This research underscores the significance of balanced organisational contexts in mitigating WB. It highlights a gap in the current literature regarding the broader organisational factors that influence bullying and advocates for a more in-depth understanding of these dynamics. Furthermore, it contributes to the existing body of knowledge by offering a comprehensive and harmonised approach to preventing WB, transcending isolated interventions. Full article

Background: There is a lack of literature specifically examining the workplace bullying of apprentices and trainees in traditional, male-dominated sectors such as the Australian building and construction industry. Using social identity theory (SIT), the aim of this study was to gather the attitudes, thoughts, and feelings of construction industry leaders to better understand how social identification (i.e., group membership) impacts bullying on targets and perpetrators and the willingness to report bullying to targets and bystanders. Method: One-on-one, semi-structured interviews using a purposive sample of eight leaders from construction and blue-collar industries. Qualitative data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Four overarching themes were identified: difficulties for apprentices transitioning into industry, the need for continued improvement in industry culture, reluctance to report bullying, and rethinking apprenticeships to empower. Each theme provides insight into the psychosocial phenomenon of the bullying of trade apprentices and suggests that an apprentice’s level of social identification with work groups shapes how bullying is identified, interpreted, and prevented. Conclusion: Findings from this study will be important for tailoring evidence-based interventions, human resource policies, and initiatives for education and awareness training. Themes also highlight systemic inadequacies impacting apprentices’ mental health and skill development, with implications for the future sustainability of apprenticeship training agreements. Full article

Workplace bullying (WB) studies focusing on perpetrators are increasing. Many processes, events, circumstances and individual states are being studied to understand and inhibit what causes some employees to become perpetrators. Using a 24-week diary design and drawing on the Conservation of Resources Theory, we investigated how sleep, physical activity (PA), and being bullied predicted perpetration on a within-level. On a between-level, we controlled for a supervisory position, psychological distress and mental illnesses over 38 employees from Spain and Turkey. Their average age was 38.84 years (SD = 11.75). They were from diverse sectors (15.8% in manufacturing, 15.8% in education, 13.2% in wholesale and retail trade, 13.2% in information and communication, 7.9% in health, 7.9% in other services and 26.3% from other sectors) with diverse professions such as finance manager, psychologist, graphic designer, academic, human resources professional, forensic doctor, IT and Administration head, municipality admin executive, waiter, and sales executives. Data collection was conducted over 24 consecutive work weeks, where only 31 participants were involved in perpetration (final observations = 720). We analyzed the data using multilevel structural equation modeling decomposed into within-and-between-person variance parts. The results indicated that on a within-level, PA as steps taken during the work week and being bullied positively predicted perpetration the same week, while sleep quality did not. By connecting sleep, physical exercise and WB literature, we draw attention to the health condition of perpetrators. Organizations should actively inhibit workplace bullying and be mindful of employees’ physical activities at work or commuting to work. Managers should also be attentive to physical fatigue that employees may feel due to their responsibilities in their private lives and allow employees to rest and recuperate to inhibit negative behaviors at work. Full article

Workplace bullying manifests in significant costs to individuals and organisations. The obligation to resolve such cases largely falls on Human Resource Professionals (HRPs). Little is known, however, about the antecedents to HRPs’ helping behaviour in these scenarios. Using the attribution–emotion model of stigmatisation, this study explored how HRPs are influenced in their response to workplace bullying. Australian HRPs (n = 84) were assigned to one of four experimental vignette scenarios, differing in target (approach/avoidance coping) and perpetrator (effort vs. non-effortful response) behaviour. The results revealed that targets who fail to act to resolve situations of bullying were regarded as more responsible and less likely to receive help, but HRPs were more sympathetic and inclined to help non-responsive perpetrators when the targets also avoided the situation. The findings indicate two key areas for training and development that could improve HRPs evaluations and management of workplace bullying. Full article

This study aimed to further understand and compare the phenomenon of workplace bullying (WPB) among clinical nurses in various sociocultural contexts. The study sought to determine appropriate interventions, examining how said interventions should be delivered at individual, work-unit, and institutional levels. Qualitative meta-synthesis was chosen to achieve the study aims. Individual qualitative research findings were gathered, compared, and summarized using the thematic analysis suggested by Braun and Clark. Based on the predefined analytic points, the findings included the following themes: horizontal yet vertical violence, direct and indirect violence on victims, nurses feed on their own, accepting and condoning WPB embedded in ineffective work systems, and rippling over the entire organization. The results showed that the phenomenon of workplace bullying shares quite a few attributes across cultures in terms of the characteristics, types, perpetrators, subjects, and consequences. The findings suggest that interventions to change and improve organizational work culture must be developed and implemented. Full article

Although job-related work environment studies found associations to workplace bullying perpetration, little work with longitudinal designs has been conducted on broader organizational measures, which may help design effective interventions for perpetration. Using a three-wave longitudinal design and drawing on Conservation of Resources Theory, we investigated whether organizational trust and justice predicted perpetration six months later. The sample consisted of 2447 employees from Spain and Turkey from various industries, such as services, manufacturing, and education. We also investigated whether physical and psychological health explained the relationship between organizational trust, justice, and perpetration. The results indicated that, in three months, organizational justice negatively predicted psychological and physical health deterioration, while unexpectedly, organizational trust positively predicted the same. Health conditions did not predict perpetration, in three months, while organizational conditions did not predict perpetration directly or indirectly in six months. Assessing and improving organizational trust and justice practices may help employee health improve over time. As organizational trust, justice, and health status are significantly related to current perpetration incidents, assessments of these subjects may be instrumental in identifying possible current perpetration phenomena. Full article

Despite the fact that workaholism and workplace aggressive behavior share many correlates, such as neuroticism, hostility, and negative affectivity, little is known about their relationship, with most evidence on both phenomena coming from cross-sectional studies. In the present study, we contributed to a better understanding of the antecedents of enacted workplace bullying behavior (i.e., perpetration of bullying), and the potential interpersonal implications of workaholism, by investigating their cross-lagged relationship. Data from a two-wave one-year panel study conducted with 235 employees in a national healthcare service organization showed substantial cross-sectional and cross-lagged positive relationships between workaholism and enacted workplace bullying. Whereas Time 1 workaholism was a significant predictor of Time 2 enacted workplace bullying, reversed causation was not supported. To shed light on the role of a potential mechanism explaining the link between workaholism and enactment of bullying, we examined whether job-related negative affect (e.g., anger) mediated their longitudinal relationship. However, whereas increased negative affect from T1 to T2 was positively associated with T2 enacted workplace bullying, the relationship between T1 workaholism and increased job-related negative affect was not significant, contrary to the hypothesized mediation. Taken together, our findings suggest that workaholism may be an important antecedent of enacted workplace bullying. Study limitations and future perspectives are discussed. Full article

Gender-based violence and sexual harassment (GBVH) by and towards academics and students has been under-theorised at an organisational level in higher education institutions (HEIs). The methodology involves a critical review of the literature on GBVH and organizational responses to it, locating it in the context of an analysis of organizational power. The theoretical perspective involves a focus on power and workplace bullying. It identifies three power-related characteristics of academic environments which it is suggested facilitate GBVH: their male-dominant hierarchical character; their neoliberal managerialist ethos and gender/intersectional incompetent leadership which perpetuates male entitlement and toxic masculinities. These characteristics also inhibit tackling GBVH by depicting it as an individual problem, encouraging informal coping and militating against the prosecution of perpetrators. Initiating a discussion and action at organizational and state levels about GBVH as a power-related phenomenon, challenging the dominant neo-liberal ethos and the hierarchical character of HEIs, as well as reducing their male dominance and increasing the gender competence of those in positions of power are seen as initial steps in tackling the problem. Full article

Workplace bullying consists of repeated, long-term exposure to a variety of negative behaviors. However, it remains unclear when behaviors are seen as morally acceptable vs. become bullying. Moral judgments affect whether third parties deem it necessary to intervene. In this qualitative study, we first conceptualize and then explore via 27 interviews with Austrian HR professionals and employee representatives whether twelve diverse negative behaviors elicit distinct causal attributions and moral judgments. In particular, we examine how a perpetrator’s hierarchical position and gender shape the third parties’ evaluations. A qualitative content analysis reveals the behaviors vary in their perceived acceptability and associations with workplace bullying. Ambiguous behaviors require specific cues such a perpetrator’s malicious intent to be labeled workplace bullying. Overall, third parties judge behaviors by supervisors more harshly, particularly when managerial role expectations are violated. The majority of informants reject the notion that their perceptions are affected by perpetrator gender. Still, women who engage in behaviors associated with anger or a lack of empathy are often perceived as acting with intent. The findings suggest that the violation of social role expectations amplifies the attribution of dispositional causes (e.g., malicious intent). We discuss the relevance of perpetrator intent for research and practice. Full article

Workplace violence (WPV) has been extensively studied in hospitals, yet little is known about WPV in outpatient physician clinics. These settings and work tasks may present different risk factors for WPV compared to hospitals, including the handling/exchange of cash, and being remotely located without security presence. We conducted a systematic literature review to describe what is currently known about WPV in outpatient physician clinics. Six literature databases were searched and reference lists from included articles published from 2000–2019. Thirteen quantitative and five qualitative manuscripts were included which all focused on patient/family-perpetrated violence in outpatient physician clinics. No studies examined other violence types (e.g., worker-on-worker; burglary). The overall prevalence of Type II violence ranged from 9.5% to 74.6%, with the most common form being verbal abuse (42.1–94.3%), followed by threat of assault (14.0–57.4%), bullying (2.5–5.7%), physical assault, (0.5–15.9%) and sexual harassment/assault (0.2–9.3%). Worker consequences included reduced work performance, anger, and depression. Most workers did not receive training on how to manage a violent patient. More work is needed to examine the prevalence and risk factors of WPV in outpatient physician clinics for purposes of informing prevention efforts in these settings. Full article

This paper sets out to estimate the prevalence of workplace violence in relation to socio-demographic characteristics of physicians and nurses working in healthcare settings in Macau. Background: Concerted efforts worldwide to reduce workplace violence (WPV) have not yet removed medical-related professionals from the threat of patients’, family members’, and colleagues’ physical and other assaults in Southeast Asia. Methods: The study employs a cross-sectional design to estimate the prevalence and examines the socio-economic and psychological correlates of WPV among medical doctors and nurses in Macau. The data collection period spanned from August to December 2014. Multiple logistic regression examines the prevalence rates of WPV and its associated factors in doctors and nurses. Results: A total of 107 doctors (14.9%) and 613 nurses (85.1%) participated in the study; 57.2% had suffered WPV in the preceding year. The most common forms of workplace violence were verbal abuse (53.4%), physical assault (16.1%), bullying/harassment (14.2%), sexual harassment (4.6%), and racial harassment (2.6%). Most violence was perpetrated by patients and their relatives, colleagues, and supervisors. Conclusions: WPV remains a significant concern in healthcare settings in Macau. Macau’s local health authority should consider putting in place a raft of zero-tolerance policies designed to prevent it. Full article