Coping with bullying at work and health related problems.

Abstract

This study investigated bullying in the workplace. More specifically, it explored the mental and physical health consequences of being bullied in the workplace and the role of coping as a moderating variable among 361 people living in the Netherlands who, at the time of the study, were employed for at least eight hours a week in an organization where they have both colleagues and a manager. Of these 361 employees, 139 (39%) reported having experienced at least one form of bullying listed in the questionnaire at least once a month and 64 (18%) reported having experienced at least one form of bullying once a week. Employees reporting weekly bullying also reported more health problems and poorer well-being, and were more frequently absent from work, than employees who reported monthly bullying or no bullying at all. Those who had been bullied on a weekly basis were also more inclined to cope with problems via compensation than those who were not bullied. The coping strategies of compensation, denial, and the adoption of an active positive attitude toward problem situations were found to moderate the relationship between being bullied, on the one hand, and health problems, well-being, and absenteeism, on the other. Unfortunately, these coping strategies as a response to being bullied have a detrimental effect on bullied individuals' health and well-being and are related to increased absenteeism. Additionally, negative organizational and leadership characteristics were found to be associated with bullying experiences at work.

Direct and Indirect Effects of Belief in a Just World and Supervisor Support on Burnout via Bullying

“…Confirming Hypothesis 3, our data revealed that exposure to workplace bullying is positively related to emotional exhaustion. In line with previous studies indicating links between workplace bullying and burnout [38,48,49,51,53], the present study confirms that workplace bullying can contribute to burnout. Our findings have several implications.…”

“…Consequently, in line with many studies linking workplace bullying to burnout [38,49,51,53], the present study contends that workplace bullying predicts emotional exhaustion. Our third hypothesis is as follows:…”

“…Workplace bullying has an impact on mental and physical health [38] and leads to extreme feelings (learned helplessness or distress) or extreme self-directed behaviors such as suicide [39,40]. Mobbing was defined [41] as a sequence of actions that occurs frequently (at least once a week) over a rather long period, and consists of comments and hostile schemes expressed by one or more persons toward a targeted individual.…”

Workplace Bullying and Victims’ Prosocial or Antisocial Behaviors: What Are the Effects on Equity, Responsibility Judgments, and Help Giving?

“…Occupational stress research suggests that bullying is a major work-related stressor (Zapf, 1999) and has a significant impact on mental and physical health (Dehue, Bolman, Völlink, & Pouwelse, 2012). It could lead to extreme feelings (learned helplessness or distress) or extreme behaviors directed toward self (suicide).…”

Evasive Actions: The gendered cycle of stress and coping for those enduing workplace bullying in American higher education

“…Researchers have found that targets of workplace bullying endured sleeplessness, depression, and anxiety (Rodríguez-Muñoz, Notepapers, & MorenoJiménez, 2011). In this hostile workspace, targets of workplace bullying recruited allies at work, and cultivated a social network to withstand the bully's hostilities (Dehue, Bolman, Völlink, & Pouwelse, 2012;Stroebe, Zech, Stroebe et al, 2005). Hence, bullying was the antecedent of pervasive stressors, often rendering the target defenseless in the wake of such abuse (Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf & Cooper, 2011).…”