Literature on workplace bullying definitions and health consequences

Rayner, C. & Hoel, H. (1997) A summary review of literature relating to workplace bullying. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology. 7 (3) 181-191.

Qualitative

Overview of literature on workplace bullying

To gather the English-language research together and summarize it. The authors note that while there has been significant research on the subject of bullying in schools, there has been much less on the subject of adult bullying. They note that there are problems with the definition of bullying as applied to this context, which leaves room for a lot of study, but also poses challenges in tying the different forms of bullying together.

Overarching research question or theory: The authors are seeking to put the different research on the subject in one place so that they can better understand the definition of workplace bullying, the scope of the research that has been done on both its forms and its consequences. They note that the research done so far has identifying many different types of bullying, but that there is limited scope to the research itself. Most of it comes from Scandinavia so may have limited applicability to other consequences, though the authors do seek to parse the elements of the research that have broader applicability.

The authors also want to look at what they consider to be the difficulties in studying this issue. They identify several challenges that are faced in studying the issue, including the breadth of bullying, the fact that most studies are based almost entirely on victim self-reports, and just the different types of approaches that researchers have had in addressing this issue. The authors in part seek to start tying the different research threads together with their paper.

Kivimaki, M., Virtanen, M., Vartia, M., Elovainio, M., Vahtera, J. & Jarvinen, L. (2003). Workplace bullying and the risk of cardiovascular disease and depression. Occupational Environment Journal. 60 (2003) 779-783.

Type of Study: Quantitative/Qualitative

Type of Study: Qualitative

Research Topic: To determine the prevalence of workplace bullying in an NHS community trust, and to examine the association between bullying and occupational health outcomes

Overarching research question: The survey was sent to address the overarching issue of workplace bullying, by identifying its extent, and then to examine the outcomes that it has. This is similar to the Kivimaki study but without the finishing quantitative element. The survey provides a definition of bullying, and the respondents self-report their exposure level to bullying. Then, the study seeks for respondents to self-report their outcomes. The author also identifies several challenges in measuring bullying and therefore its outcomes, and these challenges are a common theme in the literature on the subject. The author also posed some notes about defining workplace bullying, noting that there are certain legal frameworks that can contribute, but that they do not cover the full extent of power abuse in the workplace.

This paper adds to the body of research. It is UK-focused, which gives more international coverage to the research versus the Scandinavian-driven research, but it highlights that bullying ends up being a problem in health care and government, something that several other researchers also noticed. However, the research does not explore the differences between these work environments and corporate ones, leaving a body of work unexplored to this point.

Salin, D. (2003) Ways of explaining workplace bullying: A review of enabling, motivating and precipitating structures and processes in the work environment. Human Relations. 56 (10) 1213-1232.

Type of Study: Qualitative

Research Topic: To summarize the literature explaining workplace bullying and focuses on organizational antecedents of bullying.

Overarching research questions: The author notes that bullying in the workplace is associated with higher absenteeism, turnover intention, and decreased organizational commitment and productivity. This calls for greater understanding of the phenomenon, better definitions, and learning about the full impacts of bullying in the workplace. The author takes the approach of examining the root causes of bullying in the workplace. These include perceived power imbalances, low perceived costs, dissatisfaction and frustration. The author also looks at the structures within the company that potentially support bullying, including downsizing, restructuring, internal competition and triggering circumstances. The overarching theory is that there are things that companies can to in order to reduce bullying in the workplace. If the influencing and motivating factors at the company level are better understood, then it will be easier for the company to reduce bullying in the workplace.

The author has theorized that bullying is an interaction between structures and processes, and not just an individual phenomenon. That is to say, it is as much a social phenomenon as it is an individual one, and that a lot of bullying can be eliminated simply by addressing these structural issues in an organization. Alternately, there are lessons to be derived when triggering incidents and structures are unavoidable, and how companies can truly deal with these issues.

Vartia, M. (2001) Consequences of workplace bullying with respect to the well-being of its targets and the observers of bullying. Scandinavian Journal of Workplace Environmental Health. 27 (1) 63-69.

Type of study: Qualitative

Research Topic: To investigate the effects of workplace bullying and the psychological work environment on the well-being and subjective stress of the targets and observers of bullying.

Overarching research questions: The researcher starts with the premise that both the victims and observers of bullying in the workplace are negatively affected., and seeks to determine the degree to which they are. The author found that both the victims and the observers of the bullying were affected. The author also draws upon definitions of bullying that include things like consistently setting unrealistic goals, or having poor goal clarity, and that these are predictors of the stress reactions reported. As with the Salin study, the author identifies specific workplace structures and actions that lead to negative stress reactions, but that these can be eliminated at the organizational level in order to reduce the incidence and effects of workplace bullying. The author further lends to the body of evidence showing a range of negative reactions to the workplace bullying, and outcomes for the victims in particular, up to and including depression, but finds that these affect the entire work unit, not just the target of the bullying.