The Role of Bystanders in Workplace Bullying: An Overview of Theories and Empirical Research

Pouwelse, Mieneke; Mulder, Roelie; Mikkelsen, Eva Gemzøe

doi:10.1007/978-981-13-0935-9_14

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 140 publications

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“…Hence, by intervening against the observed bullying, a bystander can "kill two birds with one stone". This means that employers and organizations may benefit from investing in ways to increase active and constructive bystander behavior in negative social situations at work and to prevent risk situations for bullying (Pouwelse et al 2018). Developing and evaluating such bystander interventions is therefore a highly important area for practitioners and researchers in the years to come.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In line with the majority of previous research on the topic (see Pouwelse et al 2018), observation of others being exposed to bullying behaviors was measured with a single item question following the NAQ-R: "Have you observed or witnessed someone being exposed to at least some of the above-mentioned negative acts during the past 6 months at your workplace?". The answers were given on the same frequency scale as the NAQ-R.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Observations of bullying and intervening when observing bullying were both assessed with single item questions. Whereas the use of single item questions is the common measurement approach in research on observations of bullying (Pouwelse et al 2018), single item questions may not fully capture all aspects of the assessed phenomena. Hence, although while there is a wide variety of different possible bystander behaviors (Ng et al 2019), bystander response was reduced to an active and passive dichotomy in the current study.…”

Section: Methodological Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To this date, most research on bullying at the workplace has focused on targets and to some extent perpetrators, whereas the observers have received less attention (Emdad et al 2012). Yet, there are often more potential bystanders in the actual bullying situations than there are bullies and targets (Pouwelse et al 2018), and existing empirical evidence suggests that observations of others being bullied may have substantial negative effects also for the witnesses. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal research findings show that observed bullying is associated with mental health problems (Emdad et al 2012;Hansen et al 2006;Sprigg et al 2019;Vartia 2001), sleep difficulties (Hansen et al 2013), emotional exhaustion (Totterdell et al 2012), and reduced job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Hauge et al 2007;Sims and Sun 2012).…”

Section: Health Outcomes Following Observations Of Bullying At the Workplacementioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Killing two birds with one stone: how intervening when witnessing bullying at the workplace may help both target and the acting observer

Nielsen

Rosander

Blomberg

et al. 2020

Int Arch Occup Environ Health

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Objective This study examines under which conditions being an observer of bullying can be detrimental to health and well-being. It was hypothesized that health-related problems following observations of bullying are determined by (1) whether the observer has been exposed to bullying her/himself and (2) whether the observer have tried to intervene in the bullying situation that they witnessed. Methods The study was based on a longitudinal probability survey of the Swedish workforce, with an 18-month time lag between assessment points (N = 1096). Results Witnessing bullying at work were associated with an increase in subsequent levels of mental distress among the observers, although this association became insignificant when adjusting for the observers’ own exposure to bullying. Intervening against bullying moderated the relationship between observations of bullying and mental health problems. Observers who did not try to intervene reported a significant increase in mental health problems at follow-up, whereas there were no significant changes in levels of mental health problems among those who did intervene. Conclusions the findings suggest that observer interventions against bullying may be highly beneficial for both the targets and observers of bullying. Organizations should therefore invest in ways to increase constructive bystander behavior in negative social situations at the workplace.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodological Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Health Outcomes Following Observations Of Bullying At the Workplacementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Killing two birds with one stone: how intervening when witnessing bullying at the workplace may help both target and the acting observer

Nielsen

Rosander

Blomberg

et al. 2020

Int Arch Occup Environ Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…I enrolled in Aarhus University in the autumn of 2004 and in one of my first classes, we had a guest professor, Eva Gemzøe Mikkelsen who talked about bullying at work (cf. Persson et al, 2021;Pouwelse et al, 2021). I was so inspired by her research and practice that I decided to focus on WOP instead of clinical psychology.…”

Section: How Did You Get Into a Career In Hr? What Drove You To Be In...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A brief glimpse into the life of a work and organizational psychologist

Bergþórsdóttir

2023

EWOP in Practice

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This career path interview describes an educational journey moving from Iceland to Denmark and discovering a passion to help managers and employees feel good about their work and to be successful in what they do. On returning to Iceland Hildur describes various work roles developing her knowledge and skills enabling her to be the practitioner she is today. Interesting cultural and work differences are explored in the practice of work and organizational psychology, human resources, research and practice.

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Factors influencing the behavior of bystanders to workplace bullying in healthcare—A qualitative descriptive interview study

Jönsson

Muhonen

2022

Research in Nursing & Health

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Workplace bullying is a severe problem that affects individuals, organizations, and society. Although there is a growing research interest in bystanders of workplace bullying, the rationale underlying bystanders' behavior in healthcare settings requires further investigation. The aim of the current study is to explore factors that influence the behavior of bystanders to workplace bullying in the healthcare sector.Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with 32 staff members in the healthcare sector in Sweden. Data were collected between March 2019 and September 2020 and were analyzed with thematic analysis. The participants experienced that bystanders of bullying, both colleagues and managers, were in many situations acting in a passive way. Organizational factors such as dysfunctional organizational culture and deficiencies in management affected how actively the bystanders could intervene. Additionally, a fear of negative consequences, lack of awareness of what was going on, bullying behavior being excused, and the bystander not being a member of the dominant group were social factors contributing to bystanders' passive behavior. For bystander intervention to be successful, the organization must consider bullying as a serious issue, take action, and show support for both the target and the bystander.

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The Role of Bystanders in Workplace Bullying: An Overview of Theories and Empirical Research

Cited by 10 publications

References 140 publications

Killing two birds with one stone: how intervening when witnessing bullying at the workplace may help both target and the acting observer

Killing two birds with one stone: how intervening when witnessing bullying at the workplace may help both target and the acting observer

A brief glimpse into the life of a work and organizational psychologist

Factors influencing the behavior of bystanders to workplace bullying in healthcare—A qualitative descriptive interview study

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