Darcy McCormack

The physical and psychological effects of workplace bullying and their relationship to intention to leave : a test of the psychosomatic and disability hypotheses.

This paper examined the physical and psychological effects of workplace bullying and their relationship to intention to leave. Participants were 150 undergraduate students who had been employed during the last 12 months. Workplace bullying correlated positively with physical symptoms, negative affect, and with intention to leave the job. Partial Least Squares analyses were used to test two competing models for the relationship between bullying, physical and psychological effects, and intention to leave. The results supported the psychosomatic model (i.e., bullying leads to negative affect which leads to physical health problems, which in turn increase intention to leave) but not the disability hypothesis (i.e., bullying leads to physical health problems which lead to negative affect, which in turn increases intention to leave).

Neuroticism and the psychosomatic model of workplace bullying

Purpose – To examine the role of neuroticism in the psychosomatic model of workplace bullying.Design/methodology/approach – A survey approach was used in this research. Partial Least Squares analyses on data from 127 participants were used to determine whether the effects of bullying on negative affect are independent of, or are moderated by, neuroticism.Findings – Revealed that neuroticism does not moderate the relationship between bullying and negative affect. Bullying and neuroticism were found to act independently on negative affect. The results supported the psychosomatic model of bullying.Research limitations/implications – Limitations are the nature of the sample, the use of self‐report and cross‐sectional data. Future research could use a larger sample, include multi‐rater data, and a longitudinal research design.Practical implications – Dealing effectively with bullying is a concern for individuals and organizations. The findings highlight the need for anti‐bullying policies. Management need to b...

The concurrent effects of workplace bullying, satisfaction with supervisor, and satisfaction with co‐workers on affective commitment among schoolteachers in China

Purpose – The paper seeks to examine the effects of workplace bullying, satisfaction with supervisor, and satisfaction with co‐workers on affective commitment.Design/methodology/approach – A survey approach was used in this research. Partial least squares analyses on data from 142 full‐time schoolteachers in China were used to determine whether workplace bullying, satisfaction with supervisor, and satisfaction with co‐workers have unique effects on affective commitment.Findings – The paper reveals that workplace bullying has a significant negative correlation with affective commitment while satisfaction with supervisor and satisfaction with co‐workers each have a significant positive correlation with affective commitment. Furthermore, workplace bullying, satisfaction with supervisor, and satisfaction with co‐workers all have significant unique effects on affective commitment.Research limitations/implications – Limitations are the use of self‐report and cross‐sectional data. Future research could adopt sam...

The behavioral reactions of victims to different types of workplace bullying

The relationships between different types of workplace bullying and the reactions of victims were examined using six categories of bullying (threat to professional status, destabilization, isolation, overwork, verbal taunts, and violence) and three categories of reactions (assertiveness, avoidance, and seeking formal help). Participants were 127 employed undergraduates. Descriptive statistics and correlations were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that avoidance reactions were the most common, followed by assertiveness and seeking formal help. As hypothesized, different types of bullying were associated with different types of reactions. Several practical implications derived from the findings were discussed suggesting that prevention is better than intervention.

Psychosomatic model of workplace bullying: Australian and Ugandan schoolteachers

Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to examine the psychosomatic model of downward workplace bullying in different cultures.Design/methodology/approach – A cross‐sectional design was used. Participants were teachers in government and non‐government high schools in Australia and the Republic of Uganda. Participants completed a self‐report questionnaire.Findings – The psychosomatic model is supported for both the Australian and the Ugandan samples. However, the relationship between bullying and physical symptoms is fully mediated by negative affect for the Australian sample but partially mediated for the Ugandan sample. The correlation between bullying and negative affect is stronger for the Australian sample than for the Ugandan sample.Research limitations/implications – The psychosomatic model was extended by including culture as a moderator of the bullying‐negative affect relationship. The findings show that the psychosomatic model of workplace bullying is a variform universal. All participants a...

Load and academic attainment in two business schools

In this paper the relationship between academic load (the number of modules attempted) and academic performance is investigated in a Scottish and an Australian university. An engagement approach to academic integration is employed, in which there is feedback between load and performance, and in which there is scope for diminishing returns to the study of additional modules once loads become high. The results indicate that full‐time students reduced module load in response to information on academic performance. At the Scottish business school many non‐traditional students had taken up opportunities to enter university under the UK governments drive to widen participation. In that school load reduction was undertaken at twice the rate of the Australian business school. For women, reductions from full‐time loads by one or two modules appear rational in that better average marks result. There are indications that status as a widening participation entrant, the learning and assessment environment, the funding regime and rest‐of‐life demands have influences on load reduction and on academic performance.

Who are you calling ‘dirty’? Actors’ and observers’ perceptions of dirty work and implications for taint management

This conceptual article develops the discussion on ‘dirty work’ from the occupational level of analysis to the task level. The focus is on occupations where dirty work is only a small part of the whole job, thereby exploring a neglected area but one which characterises most employment. A contribution is made in this article to the understanding of the social construction mechanisms involved in dirty work by considering observers’ perspective of those undertaking these occasional ‘dirty’ tasks. An insight is provided to the importance of the management of taint, showing how positive taint management can affect the actors and their observers, mitigating the risk of taint contagion from the task to their occupation. The example of firing employees is used to reveal differences in social stigmatisation attributed by observers of the task to the principal actors – the line manager and human resource practitioner.