Exposure to bullying behaviours and support from co-workers and supervisors: a three-way interaction and the effect on health and well-being

Abstract

Purpose Workplace bullying can be very stressful and it has detrimental effects on health and well-being which makes it an important area of study. Social support has traditionally been seen as important in moderating work-related stress. It was hypothesised that the negative association between exposure to bullying behaviours, and health and well-being is moderated by (a) perceived support from close co-workers and (b) perceived supportive leadership. In the study, we also investigated a three-way interaction between exposure to bullying behaviours, perceived support from close co-workers and perceived supportive leadership. This association has not been studied before and add new knowledge to the research field. Methods We used a moderated moderation analysis of workplace bullying, co-worker support and supervisor support using cross-sectional data from a work environment survey with 1383 respondents (75% response rate). Results The moderated moderation analysis confirmed the moderating effect of perceived co-worker support but not the moderating effect of perceived supervisor support. There was a three-way interaction, but not in the case of the lowest 12.6% of perceived supervisor support scores. Conclusions These results indicate that the negative effect of workplace bullying on health and well-being is weaker if victims perceive that they have co-worker support, but this protective effect seems to be conditional on the perceived level of supervisor support. In other words, lack of supportive leadership may block the beneficial effect of perceived co-worker support.

Gender Matters: Workplace Bullying, Gender, and Mental Health

“…The question came right after a definition of bullying saying that “Bullying occurs when a person, systematically over time, is subjected to negative treatment by one or more persons, in situations where the victim has difficulties defending him- or herself.” Added to that it was pointed out that “It is not bullying if two equally strong people are in conflict with each other.” Answers were given on a five-point scale from Never, Now and then, Monthly, Weekly, and Daily. The question is part of the PSYWEQ questionnaire ( Rosander and Blomberg, 2018 , 2019 ; Blomberg and Rosander, 2020 ). A few pages before the self-label question we incorporated the Negative Acts Questionnaire–Revised (NAQ–R; Einarsen et al, 2009 ) in the PSYWEQ.…”

Bullying behavior and employee well-being: how do different forms of social support buffer against depression, anxiety and exhaustion?

“…Knowledge about factors that may mitigate or buffer the negative impact of workplace bullying on employees' well-being is limited (Nielsen and Einarsen 2018). While existing research provides some evidence that contextual and organizational factors such as social support can have a buffering effect (Blomberg and Rosander 2020;Nielsen et al 2020a), not all findings are consistent. Moreover, samples in previous studies predominantly included office and service workers; little is known about social support as a mitigating factor in remote occupational groups such as seafarers.…”

“…In general, based on the arguments provided above, all forms of support would generally be expected to reduce the adverse effects of bullying behavior. Indeed, existing research provides some evidence for the assertion that different forms of social support can act as a buffer (Blomberg and Rosander 2020;Gardner et al 2013;Nielsen et al 2020a;Warszewska-Makuch et al 2015).…”

“…Even when the interaction effect was significant, the nature of the interaction differed between studies. Some studies found that social support was effective at buffering low levels of bullying, but was less effective at high levels of bullying (Blomberg and Rosander 2020;Warszewska-Makuch et al 2015). Others found that the buffering effect of social support was stronger at high levels of bullying (Nielsen et al 2020a), or that support exacerbated (rather than alleviated) the negative effect at high levels of mistreatment, i.e.…”

A tale of two trusts: case study analysis of bullying and negative behaviours in the UK ambulance service

“…Bullying is a complex phenomenon underpinned by prolonged exposure to systematic negative behaviours (Beale & Hoel, 2010) with the typical timeframe being several months or longer (Einarsen et al, 2018;Lewis et al, 2011). Bullying is usually enacted in situations of power inequality where the 'victim' is unable to protect and defend themselves from a suite of negative behaviours (Salin, 2008;Ågotnes et al, 2018), ranging from verbal or physical negative acts of unreasonable treatment (Lewis et al, 2017;Nielsen et al, 2016) which are likely to escalate and worsen over time (Blomberg & Rosander, 2019;Einarsen et al, 2003).…”