Workplace Health Promotion, Workplace Bullying and Workplace Wellness

A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 2803

Special Issue Editors

School of Education, University of Limerick, V94 T9PX Limerick, Ireland
Interests: leadership; organizational culture; toxic leadership; workplace bullying; relationships and sexuality education (RSE); social personal and health education (SPHE); lifeskills
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Discipline of Health Promotion, National University of Ireland, H91 CF50 Galway, Ireland
Interests: workplace health promotion; workplace ill treatment: bullying, incivility and violence; work life balance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The impact of workplace bullying and harassment on the health and wellbeing of workers is unequivocal; meta-analyses of both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies demonstrate a robust relationship between the experience of being bullied and a range of health difficulties (Nielsen and Einarsen, 2018). Demonstrated across diverse occupations, sectors, and cultures, this is one of the most well-established findings in the workplace bullying literature. However, there is still a lot we do not know about health and bullying; pathways between the experience and the outcome, the role of identity disruption, the role of gender, and the contribution ethical climate could help toward a much-needed intervention.

This Special Issue invites submissions on any of the following overlapping themes:

  1. How and when does exposure to bullying influence the health and wellbeing of the targets? What are the pathways or mediators between experiences of bullying and harassment and physical or mental ill health? Are there conditions, environmental or cognitive factors such as psychological contract breach or perceived intent that moderate the relationship? What theoretical perspectives can be brought to bear on this?
  2. There is evidence that bullying can challenge targets’ basic assumptions about themselves, others, and the world (Mikkelsen and Einarsen, 2002) including identity disruption (D'Cruz and Noronha, 2012). How does this relate to depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress, all known outcomes of bullying?
  3. While bullying has been shown to lead to poorer health, it also predicts poorer health (Nielsen and Einarsen, 2018). Can we unravel the complexity of the relationship between bullying and harassment and ill health? Are there gender differences in either the impact of health on bullying or the impact of bullying on health?
  4. Organizational response to bullying is poor, and often, redress is nonexistent (Hodgins et al., 2020). Organizations appear to engage in equivocation and prevarication, playing out procedures over time in a way that, given the known impact on health, is clearly unethical. How can organizations be facilitated to consider the impact of their enactment of their policies and practices on the health of employees? What of the relationship between bullying, incivility, ethical work climate, and health? We welcome papers that explore this intersection.

Contributions have to follow one of the three categories (article/review/conceptual paper) of papers for the journal and address the topic of the Special Issue. Please read details at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/societies/instructions.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

References

D'Cruz P, Noronha E. Clarifying My World: Identity Work in the Context of Workplace Bullying. The Qualitative Report. 2012;17(16):1-29

Hodgins M, MacCurtain S, Mannix McNamara P. Power and inaction: why organizations fail to address workplace bullying. International Journal of Workplace Health Management 2020;13(3):265-90.

Mikkelsen EG, Einarsen  S. Basic assumptions and symptoms of posttraumatic stress among victims of bullying at work. European Journal Work and Organizational Psychology. 2002;11:87-111.

Nielsen MB, Einarsen S. What we know, what we do not know, and what we should and could have known about workplace bullying: An overview of the literature and agenda for future research. Aggression and Violent Behaviour. 2018;42:71-83.

Prof. Dr. Patricia Mannix McNamara
Prof. Dr. Margaret Hodgins
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • workplace bullying
  • harassment
  • health
  • wellbeing
  • ethical climate

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 842 KiB  
Article
Human Resource Professionals’ Responses to Workplace Bullying
by Kelly Rae and Annabelle M. Neall
Societies 2022, 12(6), 190; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc12060190 - 15 Dec 2022
Viewed by 1756
Abstract
Workplace bullying manifests in significant costs to individuals and organisations. The obligation to resolve such cases largely falls on Human Resource Professionals (HRPs). Little is known, however, about the antecedents to HRPs’ helping behaviour in these scenarios. Using the attribution–emotion model of stigmatisation, [...] Read more.
Workplace bullying manifests in significant costs to individuals and organisations. The obligation to resolve such cases largely falls on Human Resource Professionals (HRPs). Little is known, however, about the antecedents to HRPs’ helping behaviour in these scenarios. Using the attribution–emotion model of stigmatisation, this study explored how HRPs are influenced in their response to workplace bullying. Australian HRPs (n = 84) were assigned to one of four experimental vignette scenarios, differing in target (approach/avoidance coping) and perpetrator (effort vs. non-effortful response) behaviour. The results revealed that targets who fail to act to resolve situations of bullying were regarded as more responsible and less likely to receive help, but HRPs were more sympathetic and inclined to help non-responsive perpetrators when the targets also avoided the situation. The findings indicate two key areas for training and development that could improve HRPs evaluations and management of workplace bullying. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Workplace Health Promotion, Workplace Bullying and Workplace Wellness)
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