Workplace Bullying and Unethical Behaviors: A Mediating Model

Abstract

Workplace bullying and unethical behaviors are increasingly being recognized as serious problems that warrant attention. However, there is no previous research has investigated the possible effect of workplace bullying on employees unethical behaviors. So, this study is an attempt to fill this void. Moreover, we investigated whether this effect is mediated by psychological ownership. The model of this study was tested using survey data collected from a sample of 295 commercial bank employees. Results provided support for the proposed model, as workplace bullying predicted employees unethical behaviors and psychological ownership partially mediated the workplace bullying-unethical behaviors relationship. Recommendations and directions for future research are provided.

Current Trends Of Unethical Behavior Within Organizations

“…According to Aleassa and Megdadi (2014), workplace bullying can influence unethical behaviors within the workplace. The research conducted was an attempt to fill the void of describing the connection between workplace bullying and unethical actions (Aleassa & Megdadi, 2014).…”

“…The research conducted was an attempt to fill the void of describing the connection between workplace bullying and unethical actions (Aleassa & Megdadi, 2014). The authors created a mediation model to examine bullying and how employees react, which explains why and how workplace bullying encourages unethical behavior among employees (Aleassa & Megdadi, 2014).…”

“…The authors created a mediation model to examine bullying and how employees react, which explains why and how workplace bullying encourages unethical behavior among employees (Aleassa & Megdadi, 2014). Based on the model proposed, a primary and secondary effect of workplace bullying occurs on employees' decision to commit unethical behaviors (Aleassa & Megdadi, 2014). Results of the study indicated that workplace bullying positively connected with rating of unethical actions, negatively with psychological ownership, and bullying described significant discrepancy in self-reported unethical behavior (Aleassa & Megdadi, 2014).…”

Workplace Harassment Intensity and Revenge: Mediation and Moderation Effects

“…It is assumed that both emotional and cognitive processes can shape the dynamics of workplace harassment and that differential processing (i.e., cognition-, attitude-, and affect-initiated processing) is possible while considering a host of individual, situational, organizational, and environmental characteristics (Douglas et al 2008). However, empirical examination of such issues has been sparse, and only a few studies on workplace harassment have investigated mediating and moderating variables (e.g., Aleassa and Megdadi 2014;McCormack et al 2009;Nielsen and Einarsen 2008;Rodriguez-Munoz et al 2011). Therefore, another purpose of this article was to explore the harassment intensity-revenge relationship by taking into consideration rumination, state anger, and blame attribution as potential mediators and trait forgiveness as a potential moderator.…”

A Qualitative Investigation of Workplace Bullying Construction: A Case Study on Hikma Pharmaceutical Company in Jordan

“…The behavior of people at workplace is always a major concern for the organization. The organizational behaviors that are functional and desirable to achieve mainly include commitment-related behavior, organizational citizenship behavior, and prosocial behaviors (Aleassa & Megdadi, 2014). The repeated practices and actions directed towards an employee that are unwanted are termed as bullying.…”