An Exploratory Study on the Relationship between the Personal Factors of the Perpetrator and Workplace Bullying

Abstract

Many countries worldwide have considered workplace bullying as an important national agenda. This issue has been extensively discussed by scholars who have determined that bullying severely affects an organization. However, discussions on workplace bullying in the perspective of the perpetrators still remain inadequate. This study aims to examine the relationship between the personal factors and job insecurity of the perpetrator with workplace bullying. It intends to understand the factors that contribute to workplace bullying among Malaysian workers. This research applied the quantitative method of data collection and used SmartPLS M2 version 2.0 to analyse data. The regression analysis showed that personal factors positively affected workplace bullying. In contrast, no significant relationship was found between job insecurity and workplace bullying.

Known and Unknown Aspects of Workplace Bullying: A Systematic Review of Recent Literature and Future Research Agenda

“…The other group of scholars believe that the individual characteristics such as personality traits are the potential precursors of WB. They claim that specific characteristics or combinations of characteristics, increase the risk of being exposed to WB or for exposing others to it (Claybourn, 2011; Demir et al, 2013; Hidzir et al, 2017; Standen et al, 2014; Treadway et al, 2013, etc.). In this context, one must look to both the innate (nature) and learned (nurture) behaviors of individuals.…”

“…Although WB victims are mostly pointed because of their lack of social skills, on numerous circumstances, bullies can have soaring levels of social skills (Treadway et al, 2013). Personal factors like lack of social competency and learning disability also positively affect WB (Hidzir et al, 2017). The relationship between WB and antagonism is bolstered for people who are too fixated on their job; even after controlling two attachments: job satisfaction and affective commitment to the organization (Burton, 2015).…”

“…Building on the work of Leymann (1996), recent studies on antecedent of WB in work environment include the prevailing job design and social environment within organizations. On the other hand, at individual level, some personality traits act as potential precursors of WB which increase the risk of being exposed to WB (Hidzir et al, 2017; Standen et al, 2014). Similarly, the consequences of WB are viewed at individual and organization level.…”

“…Further, the empirical WB research provides evidences of personality factors playing important role in the development of a context where bullying occurs. Sometimes one may not even realize that he or she has committed or faced an act of bullying (Hidzir et al, 2017; Standen et al, 2014). HRD intervention in the form of an assessment tool of personality traits of employees may really be helpful in this regard.…”

Development of a Personalized Mobile Mental Health Intervention for Workplace Cyberbullying Among Health Practitioners: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study

“…The subjects of cyberbullying literature in Malaysia are limited mostly to adolescents and undergraduate students, and the focus is primarily on prevalence, the determination of exploratory factors, and descriptive studies [ 30 - 33 ]. The available studies are limited to examining the exploratory factors of workplace bullying [ 34 ].…”