| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to investigate whether psychosocial factors at work predict bullying among employees. The paper is based on the work environment hypothesis stating that certain psychosocial factors at work may foster bullying behaviours. The research area is particularly relevant for HR professionals in regards to the provision about organisational and social work environment (2015:4), issued by the Swedish Work Environment Agency. The provision contains binding regulations that promote a sound work environment and emphasizes the employer’s responsibility for preventing bullying at work.
The study was conducted among white collar workers employed at the headquarters of a global manufacturing company. Quantitative data was collected through a digital survey sent to 631 individuals. The total response rate was 56 %. The explored psychosocial factors were quantitative job demands, job control, social climate, leadership and role demands. The relationship between these factors and observed, person-related and work-related bullying was investigated through hierarchical multiple regression analysis. In order to assess what the psychosocial factors add to the prediction of bullying, the effect of sex, age and the period of employment had been controlled. Moreover, descriptive statistics and Pearson product-moment correlations were used to acquire an overview of the data that had been collected.
Statistical analysis of the survey indicates that there is a correlation between work environment and bullying behaviours in the organisation. All studied psychosocial factors despite job control showed statistically significant effect on work-related bullying, where high job demands turned out to be the strongest predictor. Moreover, high job demands, low job control, poor social climate and unfair leadership proved to correlate with person-related bullying, while factors as poor social climate and unfair leadership showed statistically significant effect on observed bullying.
These results show that psychosocial conditions in the work environment can give rise to bullying, which supports the work environment hypothesis. The practical implications of the study are that employers should take necessary measures and prioritize the work environment management in order to prevent bullying in organisations. Examples of conditions in operations that are important to pay attention to are: workloads, low level of control over the work tasks, limited support, unfair treatment and unclear role demands. | sv |
