Bystanders in workplace bullying: working university students’ perspectives on action versus inaction

Abstract

There is increasing interest in bystanders to workplace bullying, including from human resource management (HRM) perspectives. This paper draws on literature from the fields of sexual harassment and helping behaviour to develop understanding of bystander action and inaction. Part of a project on workplace bullying, this study used online story‐based responses from university students in Australia, India and Turkey with workplace experience to elicit bystander and target interpretations of the behaviour. Findings suggest that even when bystanders are aware of bullying, they do not always intervene for reasons ranging from powerlessness and fear to avoidance and ignorance. Helping behaviours, including private support or making a report, were described by some respondents, with contextual factors linked to the perpetrator or the organisation influencing responses. The importance of the HRM role in facilitating bystander action, drawing on the helping behaviour and sexual harassment literature, is a focus of the findings and implications.

Persistent norms and the #MeToo effect in Swedish forestry education

“…According to earlier research, this leads to a feeling of being powerless. A presumption that the leadership would probably not react to a complaint leads to the exposed individual, as well as bystanders, keeping quiet (Paull et al 2019). In line with our study, Morrisson and Milliken (2000) show that there is a danger in speaking up.…”

“…A bystander is not directly involved as a victim or a perpetrator; while witnessing an act of harassment the bystander typically passively ignores the event and waits for others to act (Fenton et al 2016). Recently, bystander training has been recognised as a promising tool for changing bystander behaviour towards more prosocial actions (Fenton and Mott 2018;Hennelly et al 2019;Paull et al 2019). A more prosocial bystander is a person witnessing an event and intervening in a positive way.…”

“…In other words, men might think that other men are ok with the masculine norm and sexism. Research also recognises that the reason bystanders within a group of university students do not intervene is fear: the perceived risks are higher than the incentive to act (Paull et al 2019). Those risks are related to a feeling that the organisation accepts the behaviour.…”

Is workplace bullying always perceived harmful? The cognitive appraisal theory of stress perspective

“…Workplace bullying refers to negative behaviors repeatedly performed by a single or group of perpetrators over a period of time which involves activities like verbal harassment, socially excluding the victim and negatively affecting their job duties directly or indirectly (Einarsen, Hoel and Notelaers 2009). Due to the magnitude and the severity of its consequences, workplace bullying has been termed as a global epidemic equally affecting all employees irrespective of their educational backgrounds and job status (D'Cruz et al 2016;Miller 2019;Paull et al 2019;Salin et al 2019).…”

Moral Courage Fostering Bystander Intervention Against Workplace Bullying: Findings from an Exploratory Study with a Video-Vignette Procedure

“…The fear of a probable revenge on the part of the bully or the fear that acting in a public setting may potentially expose bystanders to wide scrutiny if their behavior is seen as inadequate (MacCurtain et al 2018). Fear comes also from the low capacity to understand bullying episodes due to the ambiguity of the situation and from feeling powerless (Paull et al 2019). These impediments discourage the personal involvement of bystanders.…”