BI Norwegian Business School, Kong, Chr. Frederiks gate 5, 5006 Bergen, Norway.
Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Christiesgate 12, 5020 Bergen, Norway.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Mar 2;20(5):4464. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20054464.
In line with the work environment hypothesis, the present study investigates whether department-level perceptions of hostile work climate moderate the relationship between psychosocial predictors of workplace bullying (i.e., role conflicts and workload) and exposure to bullying behaviours in the workplace. The data were collected among all employees in a Belgian university and constitutes of 1354 employees across 134 departments. As hypothesized, analyses showed positive main effects of role conflict and workload on exposure to bullying behaviours. In addition, the hypothesized strengthening effect of department-level hostile work climate on the relationship between individual-level job demands and individual exposure to bullying behaviours was significant for role conflict. Specifically, the positive relationship between role conflict and exposure to bullying behaviours was stronger among employees working in departments characterized by a pronounced hostile work climate. In contrast to our predictions, a positive relationship existed between workload and exposure to bullying behaviours, yet only among individuals in departments with low hostile work climate. These findings contribute to the bullying research field by showing that hostile work climate may strengthen the impact of role stress on bullying behaviours, most likely by posing as an additional distal stressor, which may fuel a bullying process. These findings have important theoretical as well as applied implications.
本研究遵循工作环境假说，旨在探讨部门层面感知到的敌对工作氛围是否会调节工作场所欺负行为的心理社会预测因素（即角色冲突和工作负荷）与员工遭受欺负行为之间的关系。该研究的数据来自比利时一所大学的全体员工，共涉及 134 个部门的 1354 名员工。正如假设的那样，分析结果显示角色冲突和工作负荷对遭受欺负行为有积极的正向影响。此外，部门层面敌对工作氛围对个体层面工作需求与个体遭受欺负行为之间关系的强化作用在角色冲突方面具有统计学意义。具体而言，在敌对工作氛围明显的部门中，角色冲突与遭受欺负行为之间的正向关系更强。与我们的预测相反，工作负荷与遭受欺负行为之间存在正相关关系，但仅存在于工作环境敌对性低的部门中。这些发现通过表明敌对工作氛围可能会增强角色压力对欺负行为的影响，从而为欺负行为研究领域做出了贡献，这很可能是因为它构成了一个额外的远程应激源，从而可能助长了欺负行为的发生。这些发现具有重要的理论和应用意义。
