Roger Persson

Knowledge hoarding: antecedent or consequent of negative acts? The mediating role of trust and justice

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and how knowledge hoarding, functions as antecedent and consequent of work related negative acts, as a measure of bullying. The authors investigate the relation as mediated by trust and justice. Design/methodology/approach Data stem from a longitudinal study in which questionnaire responses were collected twice from 1,650 employees in 52 workplaces. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the two models. Design-based corrections were made to accommodate the multi-level structure of data. Findings The analyses showed that knowledge hoarding was both an antecedent and a consequent of negative acts. First, over time, knowledge hoarding was indirectly related to negative acts mediated by trust and justice. Second, negative acts were both directly and indirectly related to knowledge hoarding over time. The study thus points to the existence of a vicious circle of negative acts, psychological states of trust and justice, and knowledge hoarding behaviours, which presumably will affect both individual and organizational outcomes negatively. Research limitations/implications The use of already collected, self-report data, single-item measures, and the two-year time lag could pose potential limitations to the study. Practical implications Preventive and repair actions could potentially impact both negative acts and knowledge hoarding by focusing on increasing the social exchange quality at work unit level. Originality/value This paper combines two strands of research, that of bullying at work and that of knowledge management, within which research on knowledge hoarding has been an under-researched area.

Effect of physical exercise on workplace social capital: Cluster randomized controlled trial

Aims: While workplace health promotion with group-based physical exercise can improve workers’ physical health, less is known about potential carry-over effects to psychosocial factors. This study investigates the effect of physical exercise on social capital at work. Methods: Altogether, 200 female healthcare workers (nurses and nurse’s aides) from 18 departments at three hospitals were randomly allocated at the department level to 10 weeks of (1) group-based physical exercise at work during working hours or (2) physical exercise at home during leisure time. At baseline and follow-up, participants replied to a questionnaire concerning workplace social capital: (1) within teams (bonding); (2) between teams (bridging); (3) between teams and nearest leaders (linking A); (4) between teams and distant leaders (linking B). Results: At baseline, bonding, bridging, linking A and linking B social capital were 74 (SD 17), 61 (SD 19), 72 (SD 22) and 70 (SD 18), respectively, on a scale of 0–100 (where 100 is best). A group by time interaction was found for bonding social capital (P=0.02), where physical exercise at work compared with physical exercise during leisure time increased 5.3 (95% confidence interval 2.3– 8.2)(effect size, Cohen’s d = 0.31) from baseline to follow-up. For physical exercise at home during leisure time and exercise at work combined, a time effect (P=0.001) was found for linking A social capital, with a decrease of 4.8 (95% confidence interval 1.9–7.6). Conclusions: Group-based physical exercise at work contributed to building social capital within teams at the workplace. However, the general decrease of social capital between teams and nearest leaders during the intervention period warrants further research.

Negative Acts at Work as Potential Bullying Behavior and Depression: Examining the Direction of the Association in a 2-Year Follow-Up Study.

Objective: This study investigates the 2-year prospective association between exposure to negative acts at work and depression. Methods: A questionnaire study was carried out among 3363 employees and followed up 2 years later. Negative acts as potential bullying behavior were assessed by the Revised Negative Acts Questionnaire and depression by The Major Depression Inventory or Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry interviews. Logistic regression analyses tested potential associations between depression and negative acts. Results: Exposure to negative acts was associated with depression 2 years later; however, when adjusting for Sense of Coherence and depressive symptoms at baseline the association was no longer significant. Conversely, depression at baseline predicted self-reported exposure to negative acts at follow-up. Conclusions: Depression predicts exposure to negative acts at a 2-year follow-up, whereas negative acts do not predict depression after adjustment for Sense of Coherence and baseline depressive symptoms.

Low heart rate variability is associated with extended pain-related sick-leave among employed care seekers

OBJECTIVE To examine the association between autonomic regulation and length of pain-related sick leave in subjects receiving a cognitive behavioural therapy-based return to work intervention. METHODS Sixty-five persons (29 men, 36 women) on pain-related sick leave participated in the study. Electrocardiograms were recorded in the clinic during supine rest, passive head-up tilt, standing, and seated rest, and in the home during seated rest and sleep. Spectral components of heart rate variability were derived from short-term (5 min) segments of electrocardiogram recordings. The number of days on sick leave was obtained from register data for 3 months before to 6 months after seeking care at the primary healthcare clinic. RESULTS Extended sick leave (> 121 days) compared with short sick leave (< 29 days) was associated with higher heart rate, and lower heart rate variability in supine rest and the seated position. The associations in supine rest were marginally weakened by adjusting for offensive behaviours at work. (for example, exposure to bullying, sexual harassment, unpleasant teasing, etc.) CONCLUSION Higher heart rate and lower heart rate variability measured in the awake resting condition predicts extended sick leave in care-seeking individuals. Further research is needed to clarify the underlying nature and causal role of altered autonomic regulation with regard to extended pain-related sick leave.

Are changes in workplace bullying status related to changes in salivary cortisol? A longitudinal study among Danish employees

OBJECTIVES This study aims to investigate whether incident workplace bullying and its dicontinuance is related to subsequent change in morning and evening saliva cortisol concentrations. METHODS Participants came from two Danish cohort studies, the PRISME cohort (n=4489) and the Workplace Bullying and Harassment Cohort (n=3707). At baseline and follow-up exposure to bullying was measured by a single question on bullying (preceded by a definition). Two saliva samples to measure cortisol were collected during a work-day (30 min after awakening and at 8 p.m.). All participants responding to the item on workplace bullying, giving saliva samples and participated at both baseline and follow-up were included. The reference group consisted of non-bullied respondents at both baseline and follow-up. Multilevel mixed-effects linear regressions were used to test for changes in salivary cortisol after newly onset of and discontinuance of workplace bullying. All analyses were adjusted for the potentially confounding effect of differences from baseline to follow-up in education, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, cohort, sampling waves, time of awakening, and time of sampling. RESULTS We found no indication of statistically significant difference in saliva cortisol, neither when participants changed their self-labelling from not bullied at baseline to being bullied at follow-up, nor when they at follow-up two years later reported discontinuance of bullying. CONCLUSION This longitudinal study on the impact of changes in bullying status on change in cortisol levels showed consistent lack of associations with onset and discontinuance of workplace bullying.

Workplace bullying, sleep problems and leisure-time physical activity: a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES Workplace bullying is a potent stressor that may increase sleep problems. Since physical fitness improves resilience to stress, it seems plausible that recreational physical activities may moderate the association between bullying and sleep. The study aimed to examine prospectively whether (i) bullying increases the risk of sleep problems, and (ii) the association between bullying and sleep problems is moderated by leisure-time physical activity (LTPA). METHODS The study sample comprised a cohort of public and private sector employees, who were enrolled into the Work Bullying and Harassment (WBH) cohort (N=3278) or the Psychosocial Risk Factors for Stress and Mental Disease (PRISME) cohort (N=4455). We measured workplace bullying using one question that was preceded by a definition of bullying. We used the Karolinska sleep questionnaire to assess sleep problems. The number of hours per week spent on LTPA estimated the degree of physical activity. RESULTS Workplace bullying at baseline (T1) was associated with awakening problems and lack of restful sleep at follow-up (T2) but not with overall sleep problems and disturbed sleep. T1-LTPA did not moderate the association between T1-workplace bullying and T2-sleep problems. CONCLUSION We found support that workplace bullying is related to development of T2-sleep problems, but this association seems not to be modified by LTPA.

Psychosocial effects of workplace physical exercise among workers with chronic pain : Randomized controlled trial

Abstract While workplace physical exercise can help manage musculoskeletal disorders, less is known about psychosocial effects of such interventions. This aim of this study was to investigate the effect of workplace physical exercise on psychosocial factors among workers with chronic musculoskeletal pain. The trial design was a 2-armed parallel-group randomized controlled trial with allocation concealment. A total of 66 slaughterhouse workers (51 men and 15 women, mean age 45 years [standard deviation (SD) 10]) with upper limb chronic musculoskeletal pain were randomly allocated to group-based strength training (physical exercise group) or individual ergonomic training and education (reference group) for 10 weeks. Social climate was assessed with the General Nordic Questionnaire for Psychological and Social Factors at Work, and vitality and mental health were assessed with the 36-item Short Form Health Survey. All scales were converted to 0 to 100 (higher scores are better). Between-group differences from baseline to follow-up were determined using linear mixed models adjusted for workplace, age, gender, and baseline values of the outcome. Mean baseline scores of social climate, mental health, and vitality were 52.2 (SD 14.9), 79.5 (SD 13.7), and 53.9 (SD 19.7), respectively. Complete baseline and follow-up data were obtained from 30 and 31 from the physical exercise and reference groups, respectively. The between-group differences from baseline to follow-up between physical exercise and reference were 7.6 (95% CI 0.3 to 14.9), −2.3 (95% CI -10.3 to 5.8), and 10.1 (95% CI 0.6 to 19.5) for social climate, mental health, and vitality, respectively. For social climate and vitality, this corresponded to moderate effect sizes (Cohen d = 0.51 for both) in favor of physical exercise. There were no reported adverse events. In conclusion, workplace physical exercise performed together with colleagues improves social climate and vitality among workers with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Mental health remained unchanged.

The longitudinal effects of organizational change on experienced and enacted bullying behaviour

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the relation between organizational change and enacted or experienced workplace bullying. We find that there is a longitudinal relation between organizational change and bullying behaviour and that this effect varies depending on the type of preceding organizational change (task-related or relational change). Task-related change predicts experienced bullying behaviours and relational change predicts enacted bullying behaviours. Within a relationistic process precipitation framework, we find that among moderators at the organizational level (leadership quality) and individual level (affectivity), only positive affectivity slightly moderates the relation between relational change and enacted bullying behaviours. The findings are relevant for the development of evidence-based strategies for the prevention of workplace bullying during different types of organizational change.

Relationship Between Changes in Workplace Bullying Status and the Reporting of Personality Characteristics

Objective: To examine whether a shift in work-related bullying status, from being non-bullied to being bullied or vice versa, was associated with changes in reporting of personality characteristics. Methods: Data on bullying and personality (neuroticism, extraversion, and sense of coherence) were collected in three waves approximately 2 years apart (N = 4947). Using a within-subjects design, personality change scores that followed altered bullying status were evaluated with one-sample t tests. Sensitivity analyses targeted depressive symptoms. Results: Shifts from non-bullied to frequently bullied were associated with increased neuroticism or decreased sense of coherence manageability scores. Shifts from bullied to non-bullied were associated with decreasing neuroticism and increasing extraversion scores, or increasing sense of coherence meaningfulness and comprehensibility scores. Excluding depressive cases had minor effects. Conclusions: Bullying seems to some extent to affect personality scale scores, which thus seem sensitive to environmental and social circumstances.

Perspectives on Randomization and Readiness for Change in a Workplace Intervention Study

Randomization is often recommended above self-selection when allocating participants into intervention or control groups. One source of confounding in non-randomized studies is the participants’ attitudes towards the intervention. Because randomized workplace interventions are not always feasible, it is important to investigate differences between study groups in readiness for change. To meet this aim, we used data from an intervention study of the effects of work-time control. The study design entailed both self-selection (i.e. non-random) and random allocation into intervention and control groups. Some team leaders rejected randomization because they considered it to be fairest to increase work-time control among employees in most need. Others accepted randomization arguing that it was fairer to allocate a potential benefit by random. We found no difference in readiness for changes when comparing the self-selected intervention and control groups. In contrast, the randomized intervention group reported higher readiness for change when compared with both the randomized control group and the self-selected intervention group. This suggests that self-selection into intervention and control groups may reflect the local leaders’ rather than the employees’ readiness for changes and that randomization may influence the participants’ attitude towards the intervention perhaps by evoking an experience of ‘winning or losing in the lottery’.