Helge Hoel

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.

Bullying and Emotional Abuse in the Workplace: International Perspectives in Research and Practice

Preface. Introduction. Part 1: The Problem. The Concept of Bullying at Work. By any other Name: American Perspectives on Workplace Bullying. Bully/Victim Problems in School: Basic Facts and an Effective Intervention Program. Sexual Harassment Research in the United States. Part 2: The Evidence. Empirical Findings on Bullying in the Workplace. Individual Effects of Exposure to Bullying at Work. Organisational Effects of Bullying. Part 3: Explaining the Problem. Individual Antecedents of Bullying: Victims and Perpetrators. Social Antecedents of Bullying: A Social Interactionist Perspective. Organisational Antecedents of Workplace Bullying. Explaining Bullying at Work: Why should we Listen to Employee Accounts? Bullying at Work: A Postmodern Experience. Bullying Policy: Development, Implementation and Monitoring. Investigating Complaints of Bullying. Counselling and Rehabilitating Employees involved with Bullying. Workplace Bullying: The Role of Occupational Health Services. To Prevent and Overcome Undesirable Interaction: A Systematic Approach Model. Challenging Workplace Bullying in a Developing Country: the Example of South Africa. Part 4: Remedial Actions: A Critical Outlook. Bullying from a Risk Management Perspective. Conflict, Conflict Resolution, and Bullying. Bullying, Emotions and the Learning Organisation. Bullying and Human Resource Management: A Wolf in Sheeps Clothing? Tackling Bullying in the Workplace: The Collective Dimension. Workplace Bullying and the Law: Towards a Transnational Consensus? Bullying at Work: The Way Forward.

A summary review of literature relating to workplace bullying

This paper is intended to provide literature signposts for the new researcher into adult bullying. A concise, but not exhaustive, overview of literature relating to workplace bullying is undertaken. It draws on the base provided by work into school bullying and progresses to the arena of adult bullying. In both fields Scandinavian countries have contributed a significant proportion of the research. Research reported in the English language into adult bullying at work is rather limited, but will have emphasis in this paper. Broadly there are two direct approaches; that of investigating the incidence of bullying, and also that of attempting to understand the bullying process. Both approaches are sometimes integrated within a study. There is a wide range of work that can be related to bullying at work, and some of these areas are highlighted.

Bullying is detrimental to health, but all bullying behaviours are not necessarily equally damaging

The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of ‘negative behaviours’ and ‘bullying’ in the workplace on the health and well-being of employees, to what extent the effects remain beyond the period of the experience as well as the extent to which they affect third-parties or witnesses. The paper also raises the question whether some behaviours associated with bullying may be more damaging than others. Potential sex differences and differences between occupational contexts are considered. To achieve these aims, a national cross-sectional study (N=5,388) was carried out. In absolute terms those who labelled their experience as bullying had substantially worse health than those who were not bullied. However, counter to what was expected, stronger associations were found between negative behaviour and adverse health effects than for self-reported (self-labelled) bullying and health. Previous targets as well as witnesses also reported worse health than those who were neither bullied nor had witnessed bullying. The findings also imply that some negative behaviours were more difficult to deal with than others. In all cases differences between the sexes and between occupational contexts emerged.

Workplace Bullying: what we know, who is to blame and what can we do?

Workplace bullying is an area that has attracted significant press attention throughout the last decade. A variety of well publicized surveys have revealed that this is an issue endemic in working life in Britain; and, at a conservative estimate, over half the working population can expect to experience bullying at work (either directly by being bullied, or through witnessing it) at some stage in their careers. This is now seen to be a disturbing event, with something like a fifth of witnesses and a quarter of direct targets leaving their organizations.This serious damage to individuals has been accorded little direct research in Britain, although it has resulted in court cases brought under health and safety and equal opportunities legislation. The recognition of the problem and the emergence of court cases, have both served to focus employers on the need to deal with the issue. The recent strike vote at Ford in Dagenham, asking the employer to enforce existing anti-harassment policies, highlights the fact that having paper policies is not enough. Workplace Bullying is derived from the largest survey ever carried out on workplace bullying, supported by the CBI, TUC, Federation of Small Businesses, IPD, and the HSE among others. This study covered 5,500 people, but the book goes beyond it to explore all the issues associated with what is becoming a major issue in organizations.

Workplace Bullying, Psychological Perspectives and Industrial Relations: Towards a Contextualized and Interdisciplinary Approach

Workplace bullying is increasingly recognized as an important area of debate, particularly among researchers adopting a psychological perspective of work. This paper examines definitions of workplace bullying and explores less orthodox approaches within a British context. It focuses primarily on managers as perpetrators, and comments on the ‘bullying organization’, the relevance of human resource management and of gender. Context, the workplace balance of power, workers’ collective resistance and trade unions are then emphasized as significant factors and the potential for developing a contextualized, politicized and interdisciplinary approach to workplace bullying is suggested. Links with mobilization theory are explored, and the issue is also examined within the UK public sector environment.

Bullying and employee turnover among healthcare workers: a three-wave prospective study.

AIM To investigate the risk of turnover among targets of bullying at work. BACKGROUND Exposure to bullying seems to leave targets with intentions to leave their workplaces. However, it is uncertain to what extent they actually leave. METHOD Data were collected by questionnaires in a three-wave study among Danish healthcare workers at the time of graduation (T₁ ), 1 (T₂ ) and 2 years (T₃ ) later. We followed 2154 respondents who participated in all three waves. RESULTS The first year after graduation, 9.2% reported being bullied at work, 1.8% frequently. Follow-up analyses showed a strong relationship between exposure to bullying at T₂ and turnover at T₃ [odds ratio (OR) for frequently bullied = 3.1]. The inclusion of push factors such as low social support and low sense of community, intention to leave and ill health did not change the relation between bullying and turnover significantly. Three reasons for quitting stood out among reasons given by the bullied respondents: poor leadership, being exposed to negative behaviour and health problems. CONCLUSION Bullying may be costly to an organization in terms of staff turnover and subsequent recruitment and training of replacements. IMPACT FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Managers should regularly monitor the psychosocial work environment. To prevent bullying local policies and procedures should be developed, implemented and evaluated.

Workplace bullying and stress

This chapter explores the relationship between workplace bullying and occupational stress. Initially the concept of bullying and its defining features are introduced. Following a brief discussion of bullying and the stress process, an examination of possible stressors as antecedents of bullying is undertaken. Drawing on the empirical evidence available, individual and organizational effects and outcomes of bullying are described. Attention is also paid to the relationship between bullying and the coping process. It is concluded that, despite the fact that evidence is often sparse, a substantial body of research emerged within less than a decade, providing sufficient evidence to suggest that bullying is an important psychosocial hazard in the workplace with very substantial negative implications for individuals and organizations alike. Some methodological concerns are discussed and implications for future research highlighted.

Bullying and employee turn-over among health care workers: A three-wave prospective study

AIM To investigate the risk of turnover among targets of bullying at work. BACKGROUND Exposure to bullying seems to leave targets with intentions to leave their workplaces. However, it is uncertain to what extent they actually leave. METHOD Data were collected by questionnaires in a three-wave study among Danish healthcare workers at the time of graduation (T₁ ), 1 (T₂ ) and 2 years (T₃ ) later. We followed 2154 respondents who participated in all three waves. RESULTS The first year after graduation, 9.2% reported being bullied at work, 1.8% frequently. Follow-up analyses showed a strong relationship between exposure to bullying at T₂ and turnover at T₃ [odds ratio (OR) for frequently bullied = 3.1]. The inclusion of push factors such as low social support and low sense of community, intention to leave and ill health did not change the relation between bullying and turnover significantly. Three reasons for quitting stood out among reasons given by the bullied respondents: poor leadership, being exposed to negative behaviour and health problems. CONCLUSION Bullying may be costly to an organization in terms of staff turnover and subsequent recruitment and training of replacements. IMPACT FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Managers should regularly monitor the psychosocial work environment. To prevent bullying local policies and procedures should be developed, implemented and evaluated.

Workplace bullying and the employment relationship exploring questions of prevention, control and context

Previous research strongly indicates that the perpetrators of workplace bullying in Britain are mainly managers. Contrary to the predominant view in workplace bullying literature and despite cost implications for employers, this article proposes an agenda for future empirical research focused on whether employers may also benefit significantly from bullying. It outlines a definition of workplace bullying, key debates and prescriptions suggested in previously published literature for management to contest and prevent it. When bullying is perceived in terms of managerial control of labour and the core concepts of the labour process – an approach not previously embraced in the established psychological and social psychological analyses of the issue – bullying is better understood as an endemic feature of the capitalist employment relationship. Existing secondary material and future research possibilities are then explored and discussed, with some conclusions that are aimed to take the research in this field in new directions.