How prevalent is workplace mistreatment? A meta‐analytic investigation

Abstract

Organizations, researchers, and policymakers rely on estimates of the prevalence of workplace mistreatment in numerous ways, including assessing the need for legal or organizational intervention. However, despite the importance of having accurate prevalence rate estimates, there has not been a systematic attempt to estimate the proportion of employees who encounter mistreatment. This study thus sought to meta-analytically estimate the prevalence of a comprehensive set of forms of workplace mistreatment. In doing so, we reconcile the substantial variability in prevalence rates reported across studies by exploring factors that may influence prevalence rates. Results showed an average of 34% of employees experienced mistreatment and 44% of employees witnessed mistreatment. Estimates ranged from 16% to 75% for specific forms of experienced mistreatment and 20% to 79% for witnessed mistreatment. Prevalence rates also varied as a function of measurement characteristics. We next used our meta-analytic prevalence rate estimates to infer the financial cost of mistreatment due to increased sickness absences and productivity loss. The estimated cost ranged from $691.70 billion to $1.97 trillion annually. Finally, results suggest that prevalence rates are lowest in countries where greater legal protections are offered to workers, illustrating the utility of legal efforts in mitigating mistreatment. Recommendations for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers are discussed.

Social Undermining and Three Forms of Organizational Commitment

“…Management scholars have long recognized many forms of workplace mistreatment, ranging from relatively infrequent acts of physical violence, such as physical harassment and bullying, to the far more prevalent forms of the behavior, such as incivility and social undermining (SU; e.g., Barclay & Aquino, 2011; Dhanani et al, 2021). Regardless of its many forms, across studies, the literature is rich with examples showing that workplace mistreatment increases the likelihood of negative physical, psychological, emotional, and behavioral outcomes for the victims, such as increased somatic complaints and feelings of depression, negative work attitudes, burnout, and lower job performance (Aquino & Thau, 2009; Barclay & Aquino, 2011; Hershcovis, 2011).…”

“…Although much has been written about workplace mistreatment (for a recent meta-analytic review, see Dhanani et al, 2021), with few exceptions (e.g., Mostafa et al, 2021; Watkins, 2021), SU remains an understudied form of mistreatment behavior. We find this puzzling given that SU is conceptually distinguishable from other forms of mistreatment, such as abusive supervision, bullying, harassment, and incivility (Bowling & Beehr, 2006; Hershcovis, 2011; Tepper & Henle, 2011), yet is particularly relevant for employee–organization relations.…”

Leadership and Workplace Aggression: A Meta-analysis

“…Second, we conducted a manual search in relevant journals in management, organizational behavior, and applied psychology (i.e., Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Management, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Personnel Psychology, The Leadership Quarterly and Work and Stress). Third, we checked the reference lists of relevant articles included in important qualitative and quantitative reviews of the past decade (i.e., Aquino & Thau, 2009;Bartlett & Bartlett, 2011;Bowling & Beehr, 2006;Cortina, 2017;Dhanani et al, 2020Dhanani et al, , 2021Feijó et al, 2019;Gupta et al, 2020;Hershcovis, 2011;Hershcovis & Barling, 2010;Hershcovis et al, 2007;Howard et al, 2020;Mackey et al, 2021;Nielsen et al, 2019;Yao et al, 2021).…”

Are you sick? Understanding the effects of coworker presenteeism on workplace mistreatment.

“…In this respect, our findings inform managers with tangible ways to limit disrespectful work behavior during the pandemic and beyond. Given the prevalence and uniquely harmful effects of avoidance and incivility (Yao et al, 2021), reducing these types of mistreatment can save organizations millions of dollars each year (Dhanani et al, 2021).…”