The Prevalence of Coworker Conflict Including Bullying in a Unionized U.S. Public Sector Workforce

Abstract

Workplace violence is an enormous problem worldwide; incidents where the perpetrator is a current or former employee are an important dimension. This large cross-sectional survey examined the prevalence of this problem among a U.S. state government unionized public sector workforce. Using participatory action research methods, we conducted a web-based survey of members of that workforce from a single northeast U.S. state, receiving 11,874 completed surveys (response rate: 71.8%). Overall, 10.0% of the respondents indicated that they had been bullied at work during the prior 6 months, with 71.9% of those who reported regular bullying identifying the perpetrator as a supervisor and/or top management. The prevalence of bullying was similar to the rates reported in Europe and Scandinavia (5%-30%). Those reports also identified the person(s) responsible for the behavior as being predominantly of higher status within the organization.

Influence of Tunisian Revolution on Bullying at Work in Interns and Residents

“…The same phenomenon has been observed other where, such as Europe, where the prevalence of MHW decreased from 30% in 2003 to 15% in 2011 [2,22].…”

Risk Factors for Workplace Bullying: A Systematic Review

“…Also, 11 studies showed no association between gender and bullying [39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49]. Only two studies suggested a higher risk among men [50,51]. The results on the association between age and workplace bullying were also inconsistent.…”

“…The results on the association between age and workplace bullying were also inconsistent. Although eight studies found that workers younger than 44 years of age are more likely to be bullied [30,32,37,41,45,50,52,53], nine studies showed no association between age and workplace bullying [29,36,39,42,43,44,47,48,49]. Only one study suggested a higher prevalence of bullying in older workers [54].…”

Personnel risk management assessment for newly emerging forms of employee crimes

“…Workplace harassment is a form of criminal conduct that can include physical and emotional intimidation or bullying. In a recent study, approximately 10% of over 11,000 workers in a unionized government organization felt that they had been bullied during the prior 6 months, with 71.9% of those who reported regular bullying identifying the perpetrator as a supervisor or top management (Lipscomb et al, ). In a survey of 1,016 human resource professionals, 22% reported incidents of pushing or shoving and 13% reported fist fights (Neuman & Baron, ).…”