Workplace bullying in a South African higher education institution: Academic and support staff experiences

Abstract

Workplace bullying is a common occurrence in organisations worldwide, and higher education institutions are no exception.Research purpose: This study was conducted with the aim of determining the perceptions of workplace bullying amongst academic and support staff at a higher education institution in South Africa and to ascertain how they are affected by selected sociodemographic variables.Motivation for the study: Currently, there are limited published research studies reporting on the prevalence and/or experience of workplace bullying at tertiary education institutions in South Africa. Research approach/design and method:The study used a quantitative-based survey design. The research setting was limited to one higher education institution in South Africa. The target population of the study comprised all academic and support staff of the institution. A webbased standardised questionnaire was used to collect the data. Main findings:The results revealed that the respondents experienced negative behaviours related to exclusion the most, followed by managerial misconduct, humiliation and belittlement and hostility the least.Practical/Managerial implications: Understanding and addressing workplace bullying is critical to counteract this problem in organisations. The longer the phenomenon is left unattended, the worse it will become and the more difficult it will be to combat. Employers can play a pre-emptive role in the prevention of and intervention in workplace bullying. Contribution/value-add:The study sheds light on the experiences of bullying at a South African university and adds to the body of literature on bullying in the tertiary education sector in the national context.

A review of research trends in the bullying of higher education employees, 2012–2022

“…The foci of the included Figure 2 Frequency distribution of the year of publication of reviewed articles studies were varied. Six of the studies focused on different things that could contribute to or shape the bullying experience, such as gender, group identification or psychosocial factors (Anjum and Muazzam, 2018;Badenhorst and Botha, 2022;Bjo ¨rklund et al, 2021;Glambek et al, 2020;Goodboy et al, 2022;Hodgins and McNamara, 2017). Five of the studies looked into effects of bullying on various factors (e.g.…”

“…Authors made use of questionnaires ( n = 13), interviews ( n = 4) and content analysis ( n = 1). Not every study used a previously developed and validated measure, though 11 did (Anjum and Muazzam, 2018; Anjum and Muazzam, 2019; Anjum et al , 2019; Badenhorst and Botha, 2022; Björklund et al , 2021; Coyne et al , 2017; Erkutlu and Chafra, 2014; Giorgi, 2012; Glambek et al , 2020; Goodboy et al , 2022; Malik and Björkqvist, 2019). The most frequently used measure was the Negative Acts Questionnaire – Revised (Badenhorst and Botha, 2022; Coyne et al , 2017; Erkutlu and Chafra, 2014; Giorgi, 2012; Glambek et al , 2020; Goodboy et al , 2022).…”

“…Not every study used a previously developed and validated measure, though 11 did (Anjum and Muazzam, 2018; Anjum and Muazzam, 2019; Anjum et al , 2019; Badenhorst and Botha, 2022; Björklund et al , 2021; Coyne et al , 2017; Erkutlu and Chafra, 2014; Giorgi, 2012; Glambek et al , 2020; Goodboy et al , 2022; Malik and Björkqvist, 2019). The most frequently used measure was the Negative Acts Questionnaire – Revised (Badenhorst and Botha, 2022; Coyne et al , 2017; Erkutlu and Chafra, 2014; Giorgi, 2012; Glambek et al , 2020; Goodboy et al , 2022). Quantitative studies had sample sizes ranging from 141 to 2,384, whereas the sample sizes of qualitative studies ranged from 7 to 20 (see Table 2).…”

“…Some studies found females are more likely to experience bullying than males (Anjum and Muazzam, 2018;. Other studies found no differences between the genders (Badenhorst and Botha, 2022;Coyne et al, 2017;Giorgi, 2012).…”

Bullying in higher education: an endemic problem?

“…Giovaziolas & Malikiosi-Loizos, 2016;Kokkinos et al, 2016;Spanou et al, 2020) have shown a strong interest in the topic. Other countries where bullying in higher education has been the subject of research include China (Su et al, 2022;Zhao et al, 2022), India (Kaur & Kaur, 2023;Sinha & Bondestam, 2022), Pakistan (Ahmed et al, 2022), South Africa (Badenhorst & Botha, 2022), Spain (Yubero et al, 2023), Turkey (Akbulut & Eristi, 2011) and the United Arab Emirates (Al-Damarki et al, 2022).…”