Measuring Workplace Bullying:Reliability and Validity of the Japanese Version of the Negative Acts Questionnaire: Kanami TSUNO, et al. Japan Society for the Promotion of ScienceObjectives: Workplace bullying is increasingly being recognized as a serious problem within the work environment. Previous studies in European countries have reported the prevalence of workplace bullying and its association with poor mental health, using the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R: Einarsen & Hoel, 2001), but there have been very few studies in Japan. The authors translated the 22-item NAQ-R into the Japanese language and examined the internal consistency reliability and concurrent and construct validity, including factor-based validity, of this scale in a sample of Japanese civil servants. Methods: A total of 830 males and 796 females were surveyed, using anonymous questionnaires including the NAQ-R, Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror (LIPT), and scales for interpersonal relations at work and psychological distress (response rate, 46.7%). Results: Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the internal consistency reliability of the NAQ-R were high (0.91-0.95) for males and females. Workplace bullying measured by the NAQ-R was strongly associated with that measured by the LIPT and other scales on workplace bullying. The NAQ-R was associated with high psychological distress, high intragroup and intergroup conflict, low supervisor and coworker support, and low interactional justice, as expected. Although three factors were extracted, this findings differed slightly from the factor structure previously reported (Einarsen et al., 2009). However, Factor 1 explained most of the variance, indicating that a one factor structure fitted the data better. Conclusion: The present study showed acceptable levels of reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the NAQ-R among Japanese civil servants. (J Occup Health 2010; 52: 216-226)

This study aimed to investigate the reliability and construct validity of a new version of the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (New BJSQ), which measures an extended set of psychosocial factors at work by adding new scales/items to the current version of the BJSQ. Additional scales/items were extensively collected from theoretical job stress models and similar questionnaires in several countries. Scales/items were field-tested and refined through a pilot internet survey. Finally, an 84-item questionnaire (141 items in total when combined with the current BJSQ) was developed. A nationally representative survey was administered to employees in Japan (n=1,633) to examine the reliability and construct validity. Most scales showed acceptable levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Principal component analyses showed that the first factor explained 50% or greater proportion of the variance in most scales. A scale factor analysis and a correlation analysis showed that these scales fit the theoretical expectations. These findings provided a piece of evidence that the New BJSQ scales are reliable and valid. Although more detailed content and construct validity should be examined in future study, the New BJSQ is a useful instrument to evaluate psychosocial work environment and positive mental health outcomes in the current workplace.

The effects of organizational justice on psychological distress seem to be mediated by reward at work (or ERI) while those regarding work engagement may be mediated by worksite support to a large extent, at least in Japanese workers.

Bullying in the workplace is an increasingly recognized threat to employee health. We sought to test three hypotheses related to the determinants of workplace bullying: power distance at work; safety climate; and frustration related to perceived social inequality. A questionnaire survey was administered to a nationally representative community-based sample of 5,000 residents in Japan aged 20–60 years. The questionnaire included questions about employment, occupation, company size, education, household income, and subjective social status (SSS). We inquired about both the witnessing and personal experience of workplace bullying during the past 30 days. Among 2,384 respondents, data were analyzed from 1,546 workers. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to examine the social determinants of workplace bullying. Six percent and 15 percent of the total sample reported experiencing or witnessing workplace bullying, respectively. After adjusting for gender and age, temporary employees (Odds Ratio [OR]: 2.45 [95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.03–5.85]), junior high school graduates (OR: 2.62 [95%CI: 1.01–6.79]), workers with lowest household income (OR: 4.13 [95%CI:1.58–10.8]), and workers in the lowest SSS stratum (OR: 4.21 [95%CI:1.66–10.7]) were at increased risk of experiencing workplace bullying. When all variables were entered simultaneously in the model, a significant inverse association was observed between higher SSS and experiencing bullying (p = 0.002). Similarly in terms of witnessing bullying; SSS was significantly inversely associated (p = 0.017) while temporary employees reported a significantly higher risk of witnessing bullying compared to permanent workers (OR: 2.25 [95%CI:1.04 to 4.87]). The significant association between SSS and experiencing/witnessing workplace bullying supports the frustration hypothesis. The power distance hypothesis was also partly supported by the finding that temporary employees experienced a higher prevalence of workplace bullying.