When workplace bullying goes online: construction and validation of the Inventory of Cyberbullying Acts at Work (ICA-W)

The Relationship between Laissez-Faire Leadership and Cyberbullying at Work: The Role of Interpersonal Conflicts

A person can experience cyberbullying at work when exposed to repetitive and intrusive negative acts facilitated by new information and communication technologies (ICTs). The incidence of workplace cyberbullying has rapidly increased following the COVID-19 pandemic. This issue does not arise in isolation; leadership plays a critical role. Leaders who fail to set clear rules and provide minimal supervision may exacerbate interpersonal conflicts among subordinates. This study explores the role of laissez-faire leadership and interpersonal conflicts on workplace cyberbullying from a gender perspective. A two-wave panel study was conducted (N = 1995; 53.6% women; M age = 42.02 years old; SD = 9.23; age range: 18-74 years old). Our findings indicate no direct relationship between laissez-faire leadership and workplace cyberbullying; however, there is a significant indirect relationship. Laissez-faire leadership is associated with a higher frequency of interpersonal conflicts, which in turn are related to cyberbullying, making interpersonal conflicts a mediator. Additionally, gender moderates the relationship between interpersonal conflicts and workplace cyberbullying. Our results suggest that interpersonal conflicts may increase exposure to cyberbullying, particularly for men under laissez-faire leadership. These findings have managerial implications for introducing tailored interventions to prevent workplace cyberbullying.

Psychometric properties and cut-off scores for the Swedish version of the Negative Acts Questionnaire: The full scale and short version

The present study investigates the psychometric properties and cut-off scores of a Swedish version of the Negative Acts Questionnaire, the most frequently used instrument to measure exposure to workplace bullying. Based on a probability sample of the Swedish workforce (n = 1853), we investigate the validity of both the full version (NAQ-R) and the short version (SNAQ). We suggest optimal cut-offs for the NAQ-R and SNAQ, and for the subscales measuring work- and person-related bullying. Based on the cut-off scores we provide estimates of prevalence in a Swedish context. The factor structure and psychometric properties are comparable to the Norwegian original and the English versions of the instrument. We also tested the criterion validity using 11 outcome and antecedent variables to bullying, and all provided support for its validity. The identified cut-off scores differentiate clearly when tested against the 11 variables used to test criterion validity in the study. The results showed that the Swedish version of the NAQ-R, including the SNAQ, is a valid measure of workplace bullying. To our knowledge, this study is the first study presenting statistical cut-offs for the NAQ-R subscales as well as investigating both the NAQ-R and the SNAQ simultaneously. The present study also provides some criticism against and suggestions for improving the NAQ-R, aiming to capture even more of the overall experience of exposure, ability to defend oneself, overall duration, and on- and offline exposure.

A 1-year longitudinal study on experiencing workplace cyberbullying, affective well-being and work engagement of teachers: The mediating effect of cognitive reappraisal

Research on experiencing workplace cyberbullying (WCB) and its underlying mechanisms that impact the well-being of teachers is scarce. We propose that cognitive reappraisal, which is a useful and adaptive emotion-regulation strategy for reinterpreting emotion-eliciting situations, is a mediator explaining the inverse relationships between experiencing WCB and well-being. A three-wave longitudinal survey (baseline, T1; 3 months, T2; and 1 year, T3) was conducted with a sample of 444 primary and secondary schoolteachers in Hong Kong, China. Exposure to WCB, cognitive reappraisal, affective well-being and work engagement of participants was assessed. In line with the hypotheses, results showed that cognitive reappraisal mediated the associations between WCB and well-being. WCB at T1 was negatively associated with cognitive reappraisal at T2, which in turn was positively associated with positive affect and work engagement and negatively associated with negative affect at T3. Findings suggest that the intrusive nature of WCB renders its victims emotionally exhausted and helpless, thus negatively impacting the process to reinterpret the situation in a positive light, resulting in undesirable consequences. This study has illuminated WCB's inhibitory mechanism and its long-term detrimental impact. Practical implications are discussed.

Beyond Bullying, Aggression, Discrimination, and Social Safety: Development of an Integrated Negative Work Behavior Questionnaire (INWBQ)

Negative work behavior (NWB) threatens employee well-being. There are numerous constructs that reflect NWBs, such as bullying, aggression, and discrimination, and they are often examined in isolation from each other, limiting scientific integration of these studies. We aim to contribute to this research field by developing a diagnostic tool with content validity on the full spectrum of NWBs. First, we provide a full description of how we tapped and organized content from 44 existing NWB measurement instruments and 48 studies. Second, we discussed our results with three experts in this research field to check for missing studies and to discuss our integration results. This two-stage process yielded a questionnaire measuring physical, material, psychological, sociocultural, and digital NWB. Furthermore, the questions include a range of potential actors of NWB, namely, internal (employees, managers) and external actors (clients, customers, public, and family members) at work and their roles (i.e., target, perpetrator, perpetrator's assistant, target's defender, outsider, and witness of NWBs). Finally, the questionnaire measures what type of harm is experienced (i.e., bodily, material, mental, and social harm).

The Indirect Role of Passive-Avoidant and Transformational Leadership through Job and Team Level Stressors on Workplace Cyberbullying

Research on workplace cyberbullying (WCB) is still scarce and needs verification. This study addressed the indirect influence of positive and negative leadership on WCB via perceived role stressors and negative team climate. The main goal is to test the applicability of the work environment hypothesis and job demands-resources model for WCB on a cross-sectional sample of n = 583 workers in Germany (n = 334) and Spain (n = 249). We tested multiple mediation models, and findings revealed that negative (passive-avoidant) leadership increased role and team stressors and thereby WCB exposure, whereas positive (transformational) leadership decreased the same stressors and thereby reduced WCB exposure. No cross-cultural differences were found, indicating portability of the results. This study highlights the explanatory factors for WCB at individual and team level and emphasizes the role of managers as shapers of the work environmental antecedents of WCB in the emergent digitalized working world. Theoretical implications and future research avenues are discussed.

Suffering doubly: Effect of cyberbullying on interpersonal deviance and dual mediating effects of emotional exhaustion and anger

Research on employee harassment, in the form of workplace bullying, has increased over the past decade. However, there is little research on the prevalence and impact of cyberbullying, a type of cyber-related violence in the workplace. Thus, it would be interesting to examine the impact of cyberbullying on interpersonal deviance through the serial mediating effect of emotional exhaustion and anger. Drawing from the conservation of the resource theory and the affective event theory, this proposed study clarifies the mediating effects of emotional exhaustion and anger. The time lag approach was used to collect the data from the sample of 385 employees in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan. By employing SPSS and PLS, bootstrapping was performed to conduct the mediation analysis. Findings indicated that workplace cyberbullying increased interpersonal deviance by enhancing emotional exhaustion and anger. The current research contributes to the literature by considering the behavioral outcomes of workplace cyberbullying with the practical implications for human resource practitioners.

Prevalence, characteristics, and psychological outcomes of workplace cyberbullying during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan: a cross-sectional online survey

Background

The rapid introduction of teleworking due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has led to concerns about increases in cyberbullying (CB) worldwide. However, little is known about workplace CB in non-Western countries. The first objective was to clarify the prevalence and characteristics regarding workplace CB victimization in Japan. The second objective was to demonstrate the psychological outcomes of CB victimization in combination with traditional bullying (TB).

Methods

We conducted an anonymous, cross-sectional, Internet-based survey targeting regular employees in Japan (N = 1200) in January 2021. We investigated CB victimization using the Inventory of Cyberbullying Acts at Work and TB victimization by using the Short Negative Act Questionnaire. Possible explanatory factors for TB/CB victimization were sociodemographic variables, personality trait, chronic occupational stress, organizational climate, and gratitude at work. We also measured psychological distress, insomnia, and loneliness to assess adverse effects of workplace bullying. Two-step cluster analysis was used in determining the patterns combined with TB and CB victimization. Hierarchical binomial logistic regression analysis was used.

Results

In total, 8.0% of employees reported experiencing CB on a weekly basis. CB victimization was associated with younger age, managerial position, higher qualitative workload, and active information dissemination via the Internet, and frequency of teleworking. Three clusters based on TB and CB victimization patterns were identified: those who belong to the first cluster suffered neither from TB and CB (81.0%), the second cluster suffered only from TB (14.3%), and the third cluster suffered from both TB and CB (4.8%). The third cluster exhibited higher odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for psychological distress (OR = 12.63, 95% CI = 4.20–38.03), insomnia (OR = 6.26, 95% CI = 2.80–14.01), and loneliness (OR = 3.24, 95% CI = 1.74–6.04) compared to the first cluster.

Conclusions

These findings firstly clarify the prevalence and correlated factors of CB victimization among employees in Japan. Further, we showed that psychological wellbeing can be impaired by the coexistence of TB and CB. Our research could be the first step to develop the effective countermeasures against workplace CB.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-13481-6.

Social Media Bullying in the Workplace and Its Impact on Work Engagement: A Case of Psychological Well-Being

The hotel industry has transformed the social and official interaction and communication landscape due to information technology. This has created a new venue for bullying, known as cyberbullying. This study aims to examine the impact of workplace cyberbullying on the work engagement of hotel employees while examining the mediating role of psychological well-being and work meaningfulness using the job demand resource model and conservation of resource theory. The data (n = 470) were collected from 4-star and 5-star hotel employees in Pakistan. The results reported that psychological well-being mediates the relationship between workplace cyberbullying and work engagement. Moreover, work meaningfulness also mediates the relationship between psychological well-being and work engagement. Findings suggest that the hotel industry of Pakistan should acknowledge the presence of cyberbullying and design policies and procedures to maintain a healthy work environment for employees’ psychological well-being and ensure that hotel employees find their work meaningful.

Predictors and outcomes of cyberbullying among college students: A two wave study

Existing research on cyberbullying has primarily focused on adolescents in cross-sectional survey studies, with less research focusing on college students or employed adults over longer periods of time. To extend this literature, the current study examined new predictors and outcomes of cyberbullying perpetration (CP) and victimization (CV) among college students from two different universities that were followed across two time points. Risk factors were measured in line with previous theoretical models, including biological or personality-related variables (e.g., low self-control, dark-side personality traits, empathy) and environmental variables (e.g., perceived social support, lack of rule clarity, and internet use). Additionally, we examined several possible outcomes of CV and CP. Results from path analyses revealed that involvement with traditional bullying (either as a perpetrator or a victim) as well as Machiavellianism significantly predicted CV and CP. With regard to the cross-lagged associations between CV and CP, we found that Time 1 CV predicted time 2 CP, but Time 1 CP did not predict Time 2 CV. That is, being a victim of cyberbullying during the Fall semester predicted involvement as a perpetrator in the Spring semester. However, being a perpetrator during the Fall semester did not predict being a victim during the Spring semester. Regarding outcomes, we found that CV significantly predicted anxiety, depression, and helping behavior, and CP significantly predicted deviant behavior, but not GPA nor alcohol consumption. These findings have practical implications for college students as well as university student support services.

Defrag and reboot? Consolidating information and communication technology research in I-O psychology

Several decades of research have addressed the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology. However, segmented research streams with myriad terminologies run the risk of construct proliferation and lack an integrated theoretical justification of the contributions of ICT concepts. Therefore, by identifying important trends and reflecting on key constructs, findings, and theories, our review seeks to determine whether a compelling case can be made for the uniqueness of ICT-related concepts in studying employee and performance in I-O psychology. Two major themes emerge from our review of the ICT literature: (a) a technology behavior perspective and (b) a technology experience perspective. The technology behavior perspective with three subcategories (the “where” of work design, the “when” of work extension, and the “what” of work inattention) explores how individual technology use can be informative for predicting employee well-being and performance. The technology experience perspective theme with two subcategories (the “how” of ICT appraisals and “why” of motives) emphasizes unique psychological (as opposed to behavioral) experiences arising from the technological work context. Based on this review, we outline key challenges of current ICT research perspectives and opportunities for further enhancing our understanding of technological implications for individual workers and organizations.

Workplace cyberbullying: A criminological and routine activity perspective

Extant research on the antecedents of workplace cyberbullying pays little attention to the role of perpetrator traits in influencing workplace cyberbullying, as well as the unique occurrence context that distinguishes workplace cyberbullying with juvenile cyberbullying, workplace bullying, and adult cyberbullying in general. To fill these gaps, we consider the antecedents of workplace cyberbullying under the theoretical lens of the general theory of crime and routine activities theory. We build a model incorporating low self-control, a widely discussed perpetrator trait in criminology theories, with three types of routine activities representing the unique occurrence context for workplace cyberbullying—mWork, boundary-spanning in enterprise social media, and proactive email checking. We tested our model with 2025 employees in the United States. Our findings demonstrate that low self-control and the three routine activities are strong motivators for workplace cyberbullying. Our findings further show that the effect of low self-control on workplace cyberbullying is amplified by the three routine activities. The study contributes to our understanding of why workplace cyberbullying occurs and offers potential implications for managers interested in reducing incidences of workplace cyberbullying in their organization.

Time to Disentangle the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Constructs: Developing a Taxonomy around ICT Use for Occupational Health Research

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the workplace has gained considerable research attention in the occupational health field due to its effects on employee stress and well-being. Consequently, new ICT-related constructs have proliferated in occupational health research, resulting in a need to take stock of both potential redundancies and deficiencies in the current measures. This paper disentangles ICT-related constructs, developing a taxonomy of ICT-related constructs in terms of ICT demands, resources, motivation, use, and strains. We then integrate this taxonomy with stress and motivation theories to identify three key implications for ICT and workplace health research and practices in terms of providing suggestions on understudied areas for building better theories, highlighting important psychometric issues for building better constructs and measures, and offering recommendations for building better interventions. This review aims to serve as a guide for researchers to move forward with the current state of research and provide recommendations for organizations in terms of both potential repercussions and best practices for ICT use in the workplace.

Development of a Personalized Mobile Mental Health Intervention for Workplace Cyberbullying Among Health Practitioners: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study

Background

Workplace cyberbullying harms the psychological and social functioning of professionals working in an organization and may decrease the productivity and efficiency of daily life tasks. A recent study on trainee doctors across 8 different United Kingdom National Health Service trusts found health issues and job dissatisfaction in people who have experienced workplace cyberbullying. This disabling effect is even more noticeable in low-socioeconomic communities within low-income countries. In Malaysia, there is a need to create a personalized mobile mental health intervention program for health care professionals. These programs should be directed to prevent and decrease psychosocial issues and enhance coordination among health care professionals to solve health issues in the community.

Objective

Our main objective is to study the pre-effects and posteffects of the Personalized Mobile Mental Health Intervention (PMMH-I) for workplace cyberbullying in public and private hospitals in Malaysia.

Methods

A hospital-based multimethod multi-analytic evidential approach is proposed, involving social and psychological health informatics. The project has been subdivided into 3 stages, starting with Phase 1, a prevalence study, followed by exploratory studies. Phase 2 consists of a quasi-experimental design, whereas the development of a prototype and their testing will be proposed in Phase 3. Each stage includes the use of quantitative and qualitative methods (mixed-method program), using SPSS (version 26.0; IBM Corp) and Stata (version 16.1; StataCorp) as tools for quantitative research, and NVivo (version 1.0; QSR International) and Atlas.ti (version 9.0.16; ATLAS.ti Scientific Software Development GmbH) for qualitative research.

Results

The results of this study will determine the pre- and posteffectiveness of an integrated PMMH-I for health care professionals. The prototype system platform will be developed and implemented in a public and private hospital. Results from Phase 1 will be published in 2021, followed by the implementation of Phase 2 in subsequent years.

Conclusions

This study will provide evidence and guidance regarding the implementation of a personalized mobile mental health intervention for health care professionals into routine public and private hospitals to enhance communication and resolve conflicts.

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

PRR1-10.2196/23112

Known and Unknown Aspects of Workplace Bullying: A Systematic Review of Recent Literature and Future Research Agenda

Last decades showed a high interest in studying the workplace bullying (WB) phenomenon in a variety of disciplines and in a number of WB areas such as concepts and forms of WB, antecedents and consequences of WB, WB interventions, etc. This study offers classification and description of current WB literature, and identifies research gaps to be bridged by further empirical research. In the first part, authors systematically review 167 refereed journal articles, classify the WB research into five main research themes and summarize their findings. In the second part, the article uncovers various unknown aspects of WB and provides concrete directions for future empirical research. Thrust areas of attention are highlighted for industry and policy makers.

Workplace Cyberbullying and Interpersonal Deviance: Understanding the Mediating Effect of Silence and Emotional Exhaustion

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.

Patterns of cybervictimization and emotion regulation in adolescents and adults

Research on cyberbullying has boomed in the past two decades. Findings from studies among adolescents suggest that they can be classified into distinct groups based on their cyberbullying experience, and that cyberbullying seems to be related to poor emotion regulation. So far, only a few studies have examined cyberbullying among adult workers and it is unclear whether cyberbullying develops similarly in that population. Therefore, in this study cyberbullying victimization was assessed in adolescents and adult workers simultaneously to address three aims: (1) to explore which groups can be distinguished based on their cyberbullying experience; (2) to analyze the associations of group membership with the way people regulate their emotions; and (3) to examine whether the results are comparable in adolescents and adults. Latent class analysis was used to analyze data from 1,426 employees and 1,715 adolescents in the first year of secondary education (12-13 years old). In each population, three profiles differing in their patterns of cybervictimization were identified: no cybervictimization (80%), work-related cybervictimization (18%), and pervasive cybervictimization (3%) for adults, and no cybervictimization (68%), similar-to-offline cybervictimization (27%), and pervasive cybervictimization (4%) for adolescents. Furthermore, these profiles differed in their use of emotion regulation strategies, with pervasive cyber-victims suppressing their emotions significantly more than other groups. Future research is needed to clarify the role of emotion regulation in cyberbullying as an antecedent or consequence of victimization.