Workplace bullying erodes job and personal resources: Between- and within-person perspectives.

Abstract

Workplace bullying is a serious psychosocial occupational hazard. Despite a wealth of empirical study, research has rarely examined the mechanisms through which bullying has its negative effects. Accordingly, using both between- and within-person approaches, we investigated the erosion of job (Study 1) and personal (Study 2) resources following workplace bullying, mediated by the depletion of emotional energy. In Study 1, self-report survey data were collected from 221 retail workers at 2 time-points spaced 6 months apart. Structural equation modeling revealed that over time bullying depletes coworker support, partially mediated by emotional exhaustion. In Study 2, a 6-week diary was completed by a separate sample of 45 workers employed in various occupations. Within-person weekly variability in bullying exposure was 34%. Hierarchical linear modeling showed that weekly emotional exhaustion partially mediated the negative effects of weekly workplace bullying on both optimism and self-efficacy. The consistent pattern across both studies supports the idea of a resource loss process whereby exposure to bullying at work erodes job and personal resources by depleting energy. Future research should clarify the role of exhaustion in utilizing resources to respond to bullying, focus on predictors of within-person variability in bullying exposure, and more explicitly model the resource loss spiral following workplace bullying.

Cross-domain consequences of workplace bullying: A multi-source daily diary study

“…Evidence from dairy studies examining bullying support this dynamic view. For example, in a weekly diary study, Tuckey and Neall (2014) demonstrated that bullying negatively impacted on both optimism and selfefficacy. They also found that exposure to bullying significantly fluctuates within persons over a short period of time.…”

Workplace bullying and the association with suicidal ideation/thoughts and behaviour: a systematic review

“…Leymann25 has posited several consequences of bullying that match those thought to be a precursor of suicide in the IPTS model, including social isolation, desperation, hopelessness and despair; however, there appears to be little empirical research confirming these associations. Other research has linked workplace bullying with reduced self-esteem and increases in emotional exhaustion,26 27 suggesting that a ‘resource loss spiral’ might also be a useful framework for conceptualising how workplace bullying translates into suicidal ideation and behaviour.…”

Workplace bullying and sickness presenteeism: cross-sectional and prospective associations in a 2-year follow-up study

“…weekly or daily) exposure. It is established that workplace bullying adversely impacts employees in several ways (see Nielsen and Einarsen 2012;Nielsen et al 2014 for reviews), including outcomes such as physical and mental health problems Hansen et al 2011;Høgh et al 2011bHøgh et al , 2012bKivimӓki et al 2003;Tuckey and Neall 2014), low job-related well-being (Bowling and Beehr 2006;Djurkovic et al 2008;Rodríguez-Muñoz et al 2009), job turnover (Clausen et al 2013;Høgh et al 2011a), professional dropout (Høgh et al 2012a) and sickness absence (Clausen et al 2012;Kivimäki et al 2000;Ortega et al 2011). …”

“…This implies that individuals, when confronted with resource-depleting circumstances, will tend to adopt behaviours that are primarily directed at protecting their residual resources and/or at preventing further resource loss. Among stressful working conditions, being subjected to workplace bullying is known for the potential it has to bring about a substantial loss of both personal and job-related resources (Tuckey and Neall 2014). In the context of bullying, engaging in SP can be seen as a possible behavioural strategy that targets adopt to counter such process of resource depletion.…”

“…Gaining empirical evidence about the unexplored relationship between exposure to workplace bullying and SP may contribute to get more insight into the poorly understood mechanisms behind the adverse impact of workplace bullying on health status (Tuckey and Neall 2014). Although adopted with the motivation to protect one's own resources in response to workplace bullying, the behaviour of attending work while ill may in fact hinder recovery, ultimately leading to an increased loss of resources and thus contributing to the process of health deterioration induced by the bullying experience.…”