Are they lonely at the top? Social relationships and social support among Australian managers

This research tested the possibility that managers may be lonely at the top. A total of 572 Australian managers responded to a questionnaire-based survey. Results showed that social support was more frequently available from non-work relationships than from work relationships. The support available from work and non-work sources was also qualitatively different. Workplace relationships offered mainly distraction, whereas non-work sources also offered care, acceptance, and consolation. Within the workplace, co-workers were the primary source of support. Moreover, support for work stressors was received from within the workplace, or from a spouse or partner. However, support was seldom received from within the workplace for non-work stressors. Concerns about social relationships also contributed to most of the nominated stressful situations.     

The relationship between organisational change and being a perpetrator of workplace bullying: A three-wave longitudinal study

ABSTRACT

While research has unravelled the association between organisational change and being a target of workplace bullying, scholars have still to shed light on the perpetrator perspective of this association. In the current study, we further the literature by investigating the relationship between exposure to organisational change and being a perpetrator of workplace bullying. We introduced perceptions of psychological contract breach as a mechanism that accounts for the process in which exposure to organisational change leads employees to direct bullying behaviours to other members of the organisation. Using three-wave longitudinal data from 1994 employees we estimated a between-subjects mediation model controlling for autoregressive effects. Results confirmed our hypothesis that exposure to organisational change at Time 1 was positively related to being a perpetrator of workplace bullying at Time 3 through perceptions of psychological contract breach at Time 2. These findings suggest that organisations should invest in factors that lower employees’ likelihood to perceive psychological contract breach in the aftermath of organisational change because these perceptions may indeed result in the enactment of workplace bullying towards other members of the organisation.     

News: University prizes

Abstract

Stressful working environments are often assumed to create conditions that may lead to bullying. However, few studies have investigated how factors experienced in the work environment may trigger perpetrators to engage in bullying of others. Drawing on Spector and Fox's (2005) stressor–emotion model of counterproductive work behaviour, the present study investigated the predictive effects of both individual and situational factors as predictors of being a perpetrator of workplace bullying, as applied to a representative sample of the Norwegian workforce (N=2359). Results from logistic regression analysis show that being oneself a target of bullying, regardless of the frequency, and being male strongly predicted involvement in bullying of others. Among the situational factors, only role conflict and interpersonal conflicts significantly predicted being a perpetrator of bullying. The present findings support the notion that bullying will thrive in stressful working environments and thus yield an important contribution in identifying antecedent conditions to counteract the development of bullying at workplaces.     

Workplace bullying as predicted by non-prototypicality,group identification and norms: a self-categorisation perspective

ABSTRACT

Research and theory on deviance in work groups suggest that non-prototypical members risk devaluation and mistreatment by their peers. Drawing on the self-categorisation theory, we propose and test a contextual model to explain workplace bullying from a target perspective, using non-prototypicality as a predictor and social identification and anti-bullying norms at the work group level as two- and three-way cross-level moderators. Multilevel modelling and a sample of employees from the university sector in the Low Lands (n?=?572) was employed. In line with our first hypothesis, we found that risk of exposure to workplace bullying is particularly high for non-prototypical work group members. We also hypothesised that work group social identification would facilitate bullying of non-prototypical members, while anti-bullying norms would buffer it. Results showed, however, that both conditions acted as buffering moderators on the main association. Lastly, the combination of the two also entailed a cross-level three-way interaction effect, showing that non-prototypicality is associated with bullying only in work groups characterised by low levels on both moderators. These novel and partly unexpected results demonstrate the relevance and significance of group level explanations for workplace bullying, holding significant implications for scholars and practitioners.     

Measuring exposure to bullying and harassment at work: Validity,factor structure and psychometric properties of the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised

Abstract

This study investigates the psychometric properties, factor structure and validity of the revised Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R), an instrument designed to measure exposure to bullying in the workplace. By reanalyzing data based on a heterogeneous sample of 5288 UK employees, the results show that the 22-item instrument has a high internal stability, with three underlying factors: personal bullying, work-related bullying and physically intimidating forms of bullying, although the instrument may also be used as a single factor measure. Criterion validity was explored by relating the scores on the NAQ-R to a single-item measure of perceived victimization from bullying, showing high correlations with both the total NAQ-R and scores on the three factors. Targets of bullying scored significantly higher on all 22 items compared to non-targets. The NAQ-R correlated as expected with measures of mental health, psychosocial work environment and leadership, indicating a good construct validity of the instrument. Furthermore, a latent class cluster (LCC) analysis showed that the instrument may be used to differentiate between groups of employees with different levels of exposure to bullying, ranging from infrequent exposure to incivility at work to severe victimization from bullying and harassment. The more commonly used operational criteria can also be used to detect targets of bullying. Hence, the NAQ-R is proposed as a standardized and valid instrument for the measurement of workplace bullying.     

Moderating effects of social support in shiftworking and non-shiftworking nurses

In this study the causal relationships between work characteristics, in terms of job demands and job resources, and both targets’ and perpetrators' reports of workplace bullying, are investigated. In line with the Job Demands-Resources model and the bullying literature, we assumed that both high job demands (i.e. workload, role conflict and job insecurity) and low job resources (i.e. task autonomy, social support and skill utilization) increase bullying over time (i.e. normal causation). Our sample included 177 employees of various establishments of a large Belgian organization. The results of structural equation modelling analyses partially supported our hypothesis. As expected, we found that T1 job demands related positively to targets’ reports of bullying at T2 one year later, and that T1 job resources related negatively to T2 targets’ reports of bullying. Unexpectedly, there was no significant cross-lagged effect of T1 job demands and resources on T2 perpetrator's reports of bullying. No evidence was found for reverse causation or reciprocal effects. Overall, at least for targets, these findings support the validity of the theoretical models postulating a causal link from work characteristics to workplace bullying.     

Workplace bullying,the development of job insecurity and the role of laissez-faire leadership: A two-wave moderated mediation study

Workplace bullying is increasingly recognised as a risk factor for job loss and exclusion from working life. Consequently, bullying may represent an antecedent of job insecurity, but this notion has not been sufficiently tested using prospective, representative data. In the present study, the association between workplace bullying and job insecurity was therefore investigated using a two-year time lag and a representative sample of Norwegian employees (N?=?1775). Employing regression analysis, support for a cross-lagged effect of bullying on stability adjusted job insecurity was found. With respect to explanatory mechanisms, a moderated mediation analysis also revealed that this relationship is mediated by continued exposure to bullying behaviours at T2, and, that the relationship between baseline bullying and continued victimisation at T2 is moderated by laissez-faire leadership (i.e. the enactment of passive-avoidant and non-responsive leadership behaviour). Thus, laissez-faire leadership appears to represent a condition under which the bullying process can endure and progress, and the bullying behaviours associated with such sustained and escalated scenarios seem to be particularly relevant antecedents of job insecurity. These results represent novel contributions to our understanding of workplace bullying and job insecurity, holding important implications for prevention of workplace bullying and alleviation of its negative consequences.     

Workplace Bullying,Mobbing and General Harassment: A Review

Research into workplace bullying has continued to grow and mature since emerging from Scandinavian investigations into school bullying in the late 1970s. Research communities now exist well beyond Scandinavia, including Europe, the UK, Australia, Asia and the USA. While the terms ‘harassment’ and ‘mobbing’ are often used to describe bullying behaviour, ‘workplace bullying’ tends to be the most consistently used term throughout the research community. In the past two decades especially, researchers have made considerable advances in developing conceptual clarity, frameworks and theoretical explanations that help explain and address this very complex, but often oversimplified and misunderstood, phenomenon. Indeed, as a phenomenon, workplace bullying is now better understood with reasonably consistent research findings in relation to its prevalence; its negative effects on targets, bystanders and organizational effectiveness; and some of its likely antecedents. However, as highlighted in this review, many challenges remain, particularly in relation to its theoretical foundations and efficacy of prevention and management strategies. Drawing on Affective Events Theory, this review advances understanding through the development of a new conceptual model and analysis of its interrelated components, which explain the dynamic and complex nature of workplace bullying and emphasize current and future debates. Gaps in the literature and future research directions are discussed, including the vexing problem of developing an agreed definition of workplace bullying among the research community, the emergence of cyberbullying, the importance of bystanders in addressing the phenomenon and the use of both formal and informal approaches to prevention and intervention.     

Bricks without clay: On urban myths in occupational health psychology

Abstract

There is a lack of intricate research into the relationships between work performance and other variables. This study examined the causal relationship between work, non-work stressors, and work performance. Using longitudinal multi-group data from three groups—university staff, trainee nurses, and part-time employees (overall N=244)—structural equation modelling was employed to explore one-way and reverse competing models. The results produced a good fitting model with one-way causal paths from work-related and non-work stressors (time 1) to job performance (time 2). Nested model comparison analysis provided further evidence to support this best fitting model, emphasizing the strong influence that non-work factors have within the workplace. This study has important implications for theory, methodology and statistical analysis, and practice in the field of work-related stressors and performance.     

Cross-domain consequences of workplace bullying: A multi-source daily diary study

In this multi-source daily diary study, we examine the effect of exposure to workplace bullying behaviours on family domain outcomes (conflicts at home, relationship satisfaction), and the mediating role that psychological detachment and affective distress play in this relationship. A sample of 68 employees and their spouses filled in a quantitative diary for five consecutive working days twice a day (number of occasions?=?680). Multilevel analyses showed that daily workplace bullying positively predicted both self-report and spouse-report conflicts at home, and daily psychological detachment mediated this relationship. In addition, daily affective distress was the mediator only for self-report conflicts at home. Further, an indirect effect of both affective distress and detachment on the relationship between bullying and self-reported relationship satisfaction was found. Detachment also showed an indirect role in the association between bullying and spouse-reported relationship satisfaction. This is one of the first studies in showing that negative effects of workplace bullying go beyond the work setting and beyond the employee. Moreover, this study adds to an emerging line of research exploring how daily negative work experiences are transferred to and interferes with the non-work domain. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Work stress and alcohol use: developing and testing a biphasic self-medication model

This study developed and tested a moderated-mediation model of work stress and alcohol use, based on the biphasic (stimulant and sedative) effects of alcohol and the self-medication and stress-vulnerability models of alcohol use. The model proposes that exposure to work stressors can increase both negative affect and work fatigue, and that these 2 sources of strain can subsequently motivate the use of alcohol. However, the relations of negative affect and work fatigue to alcohol use are conditional on the joint moderating effects of alcohol outcome expectancies and gender. Data were collected from a national probability sample of 2808 U.S. workers. Supporting the model, the results indicated that work stressor exposure was conditionally related via negative affect to heavy alcohol use among both men and women holding strong tension-reduction alcohol expectancies and to after work alcohol use among men holding strong tension-reduction alcohol expectancies. Also, work stressor exposure was conditionally related via work fatigue to both heavy alcohol use and workday alcohol use among men holding strong fatigue-reduction alcohol expectancies. The results have application in the identification of individuals at higher risk of problematic alcohol use and are relevant to workplace safety and to the design of appropriate interventions.     

Are they lonely at the top? Social relationships and social support among Australian managers

This research tested the possibility that managers may be lonely at the top. A total of 572 Australian managers responded to a questionnaire-based survey. Results showed that social support was more frequently available from non-work relationships than from work relationships. The support available from work and non-work sources was also qualitatively different. Workplace relationships offered mainly distraction, whereas non-work sources also offered care, acceptance, and consolation. Within the workplace, co-workers were the primary source of support. Moreover, support for work stressors was received from within the workplace, or from a spouse or partner. However, support was seldom received from within the workplace for non-work stressors. Concerns about social relationships also contributed to most of the nominated stressful situations.     

Relationships between stressful work environments and bullying: Results of a large representative study

Abstract

This paper contributes to the relatively sparse knowledge about relationships between stressful work environments and bullying. Relationships between job stressors and leadership behaviour were analysed as possible predictors of bullying at work on the basis of the work environment hypothesis, which states that stressful and poorly organized work environments may give rise to conditions resulting in bullying. Analyses of a representative sample (n=2539) of the Norwegian workforce showed role conflict, interpersonal conflicts, and tyrannical and laissez-faire leadership behaviour to be strongly related to bullying, and that the strength of associations to a high degree differed for various measures of bullying. Support was found for an interactive relationship between decision authority and role conflict at different levels of laissez-faire leadership. Not only targets and bully/targets but also bystanders assessed their work environment more negatively than did non-involved employees, while perpetrators of bullying did not differ significantly from non-involved employees as regards their perception of the work environment. Hence, bullying is likely to prevail in stressful working environments characterized by high levels of interpersonal friction and destructive leadership styles. In addition, bullying is particularly prevalent in situations where the immediate supervisor avoids intervening in and managing such stressful situations.     

Job insecurity,perceived employability and targets' and perpetrators' experiences of workplace bullying

Abstract

We aimed to investigate (1) the association between job insecurity and workplace bullying from the perspective of both targets and perpetrators and (2) perceived employability as a moderator of these relationships. We argue that job insecurity is associated with social or interpersonal strain as in the case of workplace bullying. Furthermore, workers who feel that they have alternative opportunities for employment may find it easier to cope with insecurity. Stated differently, we aimed to investigate whether the relationship between job insecurity and workplace bullying depended on the level of perceived employability. Hypotheses were tested among 693 workers who participated in a survey on the quality of working life. They were employed at establishments of two Belgian organizations from the textile industry (N=189) and financial services (N=505). We found that that job insecurity was associated with targets' and perpetrators' reports of workplace bullying. The interaction between job insecurity and perceived employability did not contribute to targets' reports of workplace bullying. However, it was related to perpetrators' reports of workplace bullying. Interestingly, the relationship between job insecurity and workplace bullying was stronger under the condition of high versus low employability. This hints at the idea that there could be a “dark side” to employability.     

The relationship of work stressors, coping and social support to psychological symptoms among female secretarial employees

A conceptual framework is advanced that assumes that psychological symptoms emerge within multiple contexts, such as the workplace, and are influenced by the interplay of individual and situational risk and protective factors over time. This framework was utilized to examine the impact of work and work-family role stressors, coping, and work-related social support on psychological symptoms among 239 female, secretarial employees in the USA, using both cross-sectional and longitudinal structural equation models. Work stressors and avoidance coping were viewed as risk factors, and active coping and social support as protective factors. Work stressors contributed substantially to increased symptoms, primarily through a direct pathway in the cross-sectional model, but also indirectly to both Time 1 and Time 2 symptoms (4 months later) via pathways through active and avoidance coping. In both models, avoidance coping also predicted increased symptoms. Avoidance coping also served to partially mediate the relationship between work stressors and symptoms in the cross-sectional model, but not in the longitudinal model. Active coping was related to fewer psychological symptoms in both models, thereby reducing the negative effect of work stressors on symptoms. Likewise, work-related social support served an indirect protective function by contributing to lower levels of reported work stressors and greater use of active coping. Work stressors but not active coping mediated the relationship between social support and symptoms. Implications for future research and workplace interventions are discussed.     

Measuring exposure to bullying at work: The validity and advantages of the latent class cluster approach

Abstract

This paper addresses the construct and predictive validity of two methods for classifying respondents as victims of workplace bullying. Although bullying is conceived as a complex phenomenon, the dominant method used in bullying surveys, the operational classification method, only distinguishes two groups: victims versus non-victims. Hence, the complex nature of workplace bullying may not be accounted for. Therefore a latent class cluster approach is suggested to model the data, which was obtained by using the Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ) administered to employees in Belgium (n=6,175). Latent class modelling is a method of analysis that does not appear to have been used in occupational health psychology before. In this study, six latent classes emerged: “not bullied,” “limited work criticism,” “limited negative encounters,” “sometimes bullied,” “work related bullied,” and “victims.” The results show that compared to the traditional operational classification method, the latent class cluster approach shows higher construct and higher predictive validity with respect to self-assessments and indicators of strain and well-being at work. The consequences of these results for theory, future research, and practice are discussed.     

Job tenure as a moderator of stressor–strain relations: A comparison of experienced and new-start teachers

Abstract

Few studies have investigated the extent to which the effects of work stressors on strain change over the duration of employees’ job incumbencies. Drawing on Karasek's (1979) job demands-control-support model, the current study examined the moderating influence of job tenure (experienced versus novice worker status) on stressor-strain relations. Using a sample of 422 experienced and 248 beginning schoolteachers in Australia, job factors and job strain were assessed on two occasions, 8 months apart. Analyses revealed that the three job factors were each correlated with strain as predicted, although the (elusive) demands×control interaction effect was evidenced amongst “new-start” teachers only. The findings provide mixed support for Karasek's model, and draw attention to the need to consider the role of job tenure and career stage in studies of work stress, as work stressor-strain effects may be routinely underestimated in research that ignores these factors.     

Can ethical leadership inhibit workplace bullying across East and West: Exploring cross-cultural interactional justice as a mediating mechanism

While workplace bullying is recognised as a serious issue for management concern around the world, the literature on approaches to prevent and manage it in international settings is sparse. This paper advances knowledge on managing workplace bullying by reporting an investigation of how and why ethical leadership may be an effective management style to address this issue across cultures. It draws on Social Learning and Social Exchange Theories to conceptualise interactional justice as a possible mediating mechanism by which workplace bullying can be reduced in the presence of ethical leadership.The researcher surveyed 636 employees working in an equivalent job context in Australia (N = 306) and Pakistan (N = 330) to determine the cross-cultural effectiveness of ethical leadership-based framing. Through the examination of direct and indirect effects (via interactional justice) of ethical leadership on workplace bullying, the findings indicated that employee exposure to such behaviour is significantly reduced because ethical leaders foster justice at work. This study has implications for improving international management practice in regard to workplace bullying.     

Job stress,social support and health amongst shrimp fishermen

Abstract

Samples of shrimp fishermen (n = 211) and land-based workers (n = 99) drawn from a US Gulf Coast community are compared with regard to their degree of exposure to occupational stressors, level of social support, and extent of non-clinical depression and somatization. As hypothesized, shrimp fishermen report significantly greater levels of stressor exposure, support, depression and somatization at the zero-order level. At the multivariate level, with several covariates controlled, shrimpers report greater levels of stressor exposure, support and somatization. A model of the stress process which hypothesizes positive effects of stressors, and direct and indirect negative effects of social support on distress, is evaluated for each group. Occupational stressors predict as hypothesized, but social support does not. An explanation is offered which emphasizes the migratory character of shrimping as an occupation.     

The differential role of job demands in relation to nonwork domain outcomes based on the challenge-hindrance framework

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to meta-analytically test a novel theoretical model examining a dual stressor and dual process model relating demands in the work domain to outcomes in the nonwork domain. The foundation for this model rested upon the challenge-hindrance framework and the role depletion and role enhancement perspectives derived from role theory as applied to the work-nonwork interface. The results show mixed support for the proposed model. In line with the challenge-hindrance framework the effects of challenge stressors were less detrimental than hindrance stressors. However, contrary to what has been reported for work domain outcomes, the net effect of both challenges and hindrances on nonwork domain outcomes was negative. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.