School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.
School of Professional Advancement, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan.
Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2020 May;23(5):290-296. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2019.0407. Epub 2020 Apr 13.
Workplace cyberbullying (WCB) is a new form of hostility in organizations in which information technology is used as a means to bully employees. The objective of this study is to determine the association between WCB and the interpersonal deviance (ID) of victims through parallel mediation through the ineffectual silence of employees and emotional exhaustion (EE). Conservation of resource (COR) theory and affective events theory were used as the study's guiding framework, and data were drawn from 351 white-collar employees who were employed in a variety of industries-such as banking, telecommunications sector, education, health care, insurance, and consultancy-in Lahore, Pakistan. The results show that ineffectual silence negatively mediated the relationship between cyberbullying and deviance, decreasing the level of deviance of employees who used silence as a coping mechanism. EE, however, positively mediated the relationship between cyberbullying and deviance. This means that when employees felt emotionally overwhelmed they retaliated by engaging in deviant behaviors and acting as a bully toward colleagues. Drawing on the COR theory and the affective events theory, the findings show that WCB has an impact on ID. From a practical standpoint, the study reveals that WCB can lead to ID and it also may associate with large financial costs and workplace disruptions. Thus, organizations should establish a culture that prevent employees from engaging in WCB and adopt practices of prevention and intervention because it is not only harmful to the employees but also to the organization.
工作场所网络欺凌（WCB）是一种新形式的敌意，在这种敌意中，信息技术被用作欺凌员工的手段。本研究的目的是通过员工无效沉默和情绪耗竭（EE）的平行中介作用，确定 WCB 与受害者人际偏差（ID）之间的关联。资源保存（COR）理论和情感事件理论被用作研究的指导框架，数据来自于 351 名在巴基斯坦拉合尔从事各种行业（如银行、电信部门、教育、医疗保健、保险和咨询）的白领员工。结果表明，无效沉默负向中介了网络欺凌与偏差之间的关系，降低了员工使用沉默作为应对机制的偏差水平。然而，EE 则正向中介了网络欺凌与偏差之间的关系。这意味着当员工感到情绪压力过大时，他们会通过采取偏差行为和欺凌同事来进行报复。根据 COR 理论和情感事件理论，研究结果表明 WCB 对 ID 有影响。从实际的角度来看，该研究表明 WCB 可能导致 ID，并且还可能与巨大的财务成本和工作场所混乱相关联。因此，组织应该建立一种防止员工从事 WCB 的文化，并采取预防和干预措施，因为这不仅对员工而且对组织都是有害的。
