Jordi Escartín

Perceived severity of various bullying behaviours at work and the relevance of exposure to bullying

Abstract In this study, perceptions of the severity of various bullying behaviours in the workplace are investigated. The main aims are (1) to obtain the assessments of workers regarding the severity of the various types of behaviour that constitute bullying (psychological abuse), and (2) to examine whether the degree of involvement with the phenomenon (represented by three different groups: victims, witnesses and employees with no previous experience of bullying) influences the severity assessments. A sample of 300 workers from various branches of four organizations in Spain (191 women and 109 men aged between 21 and 66 years) completed a questionnaire. The results showed that assessments of the perceived severity of the different types of bullying behaviour varied. Bullying behaviours fell into six categories, with various types of emotional abuse proving to be perceived as the most severe category. Moreover, the results showed that there was no significant difference in the perceived severity of bullying behaviour among victims, witnesses and employees without previous experience of bullying. The consequences of these results and how they can influence theory, future research and practice are discussed.

Individual- and group-level effects of social identification on workplace bullying

A study of 494 employees nested in workgroups from 19 different organizations revealed group identification to be an important factor influencing work-related bullying at both the individual and the group level. Results show that the more employees identified with their group, the less likely they were victims of bullying, which is in line with previous social identity-based analyses of work stress. More importantly, the higher the average level of group identification in the organization, the lower the odds of being a victim versus not being a victim. The latter effect constituted a genuine context effect. These findings redress a neglect of the social bases of workplace bullying and suggest that bullying needs to be understood within a broader perspective of workgroup identities.

Organisational contexts that foster positive behaviour and well-being: A comparison between family-owned firms and non-family businesses

Abstract This study seeks to extend the three-way model of mobbing by emphasising the positive influence of the organisational context on employee behaviour (i. e. more altruism, less mobbing and more perceived job performance) and well-being (i. e. more work engagement and more job satisfaction), comparing family-owned firms (FB) and non-family businesses (NFB). A total of 10 organisations (5 FB and 5 NFB) composed the final sample. The associations between the different study variables were assessed through several analyses (MCA, chi-square and Pearson correlation). The results revealed that, as compared to non-family firms, family-owned businesses are perceived as having a balanced task/employee organisational focus; and as being associated with higher levels of altruistic behaviours, work engagement, job satisfaction, and lower levels of mobbing.

Estudio y análisis sobre cómo perciben el mobbing los trabajadores

Resumen Este trabajo se plantea como primer objetivo analizar la forma en que los trabajadores definen y delimitan el abuso psicológico en el lugar de trabajo. Y en segundo lugar analizar la incidencia del mobbing en dicha muestra de trabajadores. A través de un cuestionario auto-administrado elaborado por los autores para esta investigación, se pidió a los participantes (trabajadores en activo) a través de una pregunta abierta que expresaran qué entienden por mobbing. Además, se les pidió que juzgaran el grado de proximidad o experiencia con dicho fenómeno. Los trabajadores participantes en el estudio han descrito el mobbing apelando a los factores psicológicos y psicosociales, en detrimento de los aspectos físicos y sexuales. Además, la incidencia hallada del 10% se aprecia muy similar a la encontrada por diversos estudios de diferentes países europeos. Esta investigación ha profundizado en las percepciones de los trabajadores acerca de lo que entienden por mobbing, procurando contribuir de este modo a una mejor delimitación y evaluación del abuso psicológico en el lugar de trabajo.

Un análisis psicosocial del grupo terrorista como secta

Resumen Este trabajo pretende realizar un análisis de la dinámica interna de los grupos terroristas a partir de la dinámica característica de las sectas coercitivas. Desde una perspectiva psicosocial, y a partir de la investigación científica revisada en ambos campos, se estudian de forma paralela las características principales que definen a ambos tipos de grupos y se analizan los distintos procesos de interacción que se producen en ambos. Se aborda la interacción entre los tres elementos fundamentales, la persona, el grupo y su entorno social próximo, deteniéndose en los factores facilitadores de la vinculación de los sujetos a ambos tipos de grupos. Posteriormente, se profundiza en las estrategias de abuso psicológico que hacen servir determinadas sectas para captar y someter a sus adeptos, combinando elementos de influencia y persuasión con otras formas de control, manipulación y coacción. Se analiza así en qué medida dichas estrategias son aplicadas también por los grupos terroristas, haciendo un balance de similitudes y diferencias que constata la intersección entre ambos grupos.

Development and validation of the scale of psychological abuse in intimate partner violence (EAPA-P)

BACKGROUND In the context of intimate partner violence, psychological abuse (PA) has progressively gained scientific relevance. Even so, a greater effort is needed to define and evaluate psychological intimate partner abuse. A new exhaustive and operative taxonomy of PA strategies leads to the contribution of a new evaluation instrument. METHOD Participants were 101 women between 24 and 82 years old, who were abused by their partners and attended to in different municipal Catalan services, specialized in the topic. RESULTS The analyses have shown the suitability of a 19-item instrument divided into two factors: (1) direct PA strategies and (2) indirect PA strategies. The former includes strategies that affect the emotional, cognitive and behavioral dimension of the victim. The latter includes items that measure the amount of control and domination over the victim’s context. This scale has adequate psychometric properties in terms of score reliability and the validity of the relationship with other women’s health variables. CONCLUSIONS The EAPA-P, created based on a new definition and taxonomy of the forms of PA, is presented as a valid instrument to detect and measure intimate partner PA.

El acoso laboral o mobbing: similitudes y diferencias de género en su severidad percibida

Resumen Basándose en la teoría del rol social de género, el propósito de este trabajo es analizar el impacto de la variable sociodemográfica “género” sobre la manera en que las personas valoran la severidad de los diferentes comportamientos de acoso laboral o mobbing. En el Estudio 1, se aplica el método Delphi con una muestra de expertos. Los resultados mostraron que los hombres percibieron las conductas de abuso emocional como menos severas que las mujeres. En el Estudio 2, realizado con empleados, los resultados replicaron y extendieron los hallazgos del Estudio 1. Específicamente, las mujeres evaluaron la severidad de las conductas de agresión relacional (aislamiento y abuso emocional), de modo más severo que los hombres. Estos resultados sugieren que el género es un factor diferencial a la hora de concebir el acoso laboral. Esto puede tener implicaciones importantes a la hora de que directivos de empresas de uno u otro género hayan de decidir las formas de prevenir y actuar ante situaciones de acoso.

Towards a conceptual and empirical differentiation between workplace bullying and interpersonal conflict

ABSTRACT This study investigates the defining features that distinguish workplace bullying from interpersonal conflict – being frequency, negative social behaviour, power imbalance, length and perceived intent – by contrasting the characteristics of conflict incidents in a group of workplace bullying victims versus a group of non-victims. A group of 47 victims and 62 non-victims were identified based on a questionnaire time 1 and time 2 (time lag of 6 months). The conflict incidents were assessed between time 1 and time 2 using an event-based diary study that was filled out for a period of two times 20 working days with a break of 4 months in between. Hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) showed that conflict incidents differed for victims versus non-victims, in line with the defining aspects of workplace bullying: victims’ conflict incidents related more to the work context and included more personal and work-related negative social behaviour. Victims perceived more inferiority and less control in the conflicts, indicated more continuation of previous conflict incidents and reported more negative intentions from their opponent. These findings validate the conceptual differentiation between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying, while at the same time adhering to their related nature.

A reduced form of the Workplace Bullying Scale – the EAPA-T-R: A useful instrument for daily diary and experience sampling studies

ABSTRACT The need for more longitudinal studies (i.e. daily diary and experience sampling studies) focused on counterproductive work behaviours such as bullying requires shorter scales that at the same time do not compromise their content validity. Our main objective is to develop and validate a reduced version of the Workplace Bullying Scale (Escala de Abuso Psicológico Aplicado en el Lugar de Trabajo): the EAPA-T-R. Two studies (Study 1: 1506 and Study 2: 932 employees, respectively) were conducted to evaluate its psychometric properties and to ensure the external validity of the EAPA-T-R. Correlation and regression analyses were performed to reduce the current 12-item scale to a more parsimonious 4-item scale. Moreover, the psychometric properties of potential models were compared. Subsequently, the new scale was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. Likewise, statistically significant relationships were found between the EAPA-T-R and other dimensions evaluated, such as job characteristics, transformational leadership, engagement, job satisfaction, and subjective performance. Moreover, bullying mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and burnout. To sum up, the EAPA-T-R showed good reliability and validity across studies, supporting its use in future research. The benefits of this short scale for daily diary and experience sampling studies and when using large surveys are discussed.

Victims of ETA in the Basque Country: Their Experience of Terrorist Threats

In 2011, after 50 years of violent existence, ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna — Basque Homeland and Freedom) announced a cessation of its armed activities. During this time, ETA used terrorist violence to achieve political ends, evolving in terms of target selection and strategies of violence. Attacks in the form of killings and/or bombings were perpetrated not only in the Basque Country but also all over the Spanish territory. However, besides the typical violence, other forms of activity, so-called low-intensity violence, were also carried out against targets, especially inside the Basque Country and Navarra regions; these locations were traditionally known as areas belonging to the terrorist organisation. This low-intensity violence, commonplace from the mid-1990s onwards, involved a wide spectrum of violent forms, such as physical aggression, arson attacks, coercion, intimidation, threats and extortion, among others. This strategy sustained a persistent context of pressure and harassment and because of this the so-called low-intensity violence was commonly referred to as the ‘violence of persecution’ (Gesture for Peace, 2000); it was however punctuated by the continuation of selective killings. The Basque Ombudsman noted that this ‘violence of persecution’ was mainly operationalised in the Basque Country, and predominantly against people who have been critical towards ETA’s totalitarian project, such as democratic representatives, judges, prosecutors, the police, the military, prison officers, journalists, university professors, and businessmen, among others, are under terrorist threat. (Ararteko, 2009b:635)