Consequences of workplace bullying with respect to the well-being of its targets and the observers of bullying.

By M. Vartia. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, 2001

650 citations recorded by the source corpus.

OBJECTIVES This study investigated the effects of workplace bullying and the psychological work environment on the well-being and subjective stress of the targets and observers of bullying. METHODS In a questionnaire study, stress and psychological ill-health were measured, and the causes of reported stress were analyzed for municipal employees (N=949, 85% women, 15% men, mean age 41 years for the men and 40 years for the women). RESULTS Both the targets of bullying and the observers reported more general stress and mental stress reactions than did respondents from the workplaces with no bullying. The targets also expressed feelings of low self-confidence more often than did those who had not been subjected to bullying. Being bullied, but also features of one's work, especially haste, excessively difficult tasks and poor goal clarity, predicted the stress reactions reported. Of the single forms of bullying, judging a person's work unjustly or in an offending manner, restricting a person's possibilities to express his or her opinions, and assaulting one's private life were the most clearly connected with all the stress reactions measured. Victim history was associated with feelings of low self-confidence. The targets of bullying used sleep-inducing drugs and sedatives more often than did the respondents who were not bullied. CONCLUSIONS The study shows that not only the targets of bullying, but also bystanders, suffer when someone is bullied in the workplace. Bullying must therefore be regarded as a problem for the entire work unit and not merely as a problem of the target.

Subfields: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5634b2f0f060cd69e1f25c50da46cee6b5619a1b

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Citations in the corpus

Coping With Bullying at Work and Health Related Problems (2012, background): “In fact, being bullied at work can be considered an extreme form of social stress (Vartia, 2001; Zapf & Einarsen, 2003).”
Health consequences of workplace bullying: experiences from the perspective of employees in the public service sector (2006, background): “Studies have shown that observers of bullying reported significantly more general and mental stress reactions than those who did not witness bullying (Einarsen & Raknes, 1997; Vartia, 2001; Quine, 2001).”
Burned by Bullying in the American Workplace: Prevalence, Perception, Degree and Impact† (2007, positive): “Witnessing co-workers have ‘significantly more general stress and mental stress reactions’ than non-exposed workers (Vartia, 2001, p. 65).”
The role of the psychosocial safety climate in coping with workplace bullying: A grounded theory and sequential tree analysis (2016, neutral): “…& Lahelma, 2011; Van Ruysseveldt & Taverniers, 2010; Yu, Lee, & Tsai, 2010), depression (Kivimäki et al., 2003; Tuckey, Dollard, Saebel, & Berry, 2010), cardiovascular disease (Kivimäki et al., 2003; Tuckey et al., 2010), headaches, stomach disorders, and musculoskeletal disorders (Vartia, 2001).”
Workplace Bullying: A Complex Problem in Contemporary Organizations (2011, result): “Lutgen-Sandvik's findings are supported by Vartia (2001) and Mikkelson & Einarsen (2001, 2002) who found similar results in international studies.”
Perceived severity of various bullying behaviours at work and the relevance of exposure to bullying (2009, background): “Previous research (Vartia, 2001) has shown that witnesses of bullying situations suffer more from physical and mental problems than those with no direct previous experience of the phenomenon.”
The ill-treatment of employees with disabilities in British workplaces (2013, background): “Data from interviews with bullying victims (Björkqvist et al., 1994; Leymann, 1987), clinical observation (Brodsky, 1976) and cross-sectional studies (Einarsen et al., 1998; Niedl, 1996; Vartia, 2001) have led researchers to conclude that bullying is damaging to health.”
Relationships between stressful work environments and bullying: Results of a large representative study (2007, background): “Vartia (2001) later substantiated the importance of this finding when she found that both targets and observers reported more general stress and mental stress reactions than did employees in departments not reporting bullying.”
Bullying is detrimental to health, but all bullying behaviours are not necessarily equally damaging (2004, background): “…that the organisation promotes or turns a blind eye to negative behaviour and bullying, fear of becoming the next target or being dragged into existing conflicts may have detrimental effects on bystanders, possibly affecting a decision to leave the organisation (Rayner, 1999; Vartia, 2001).”
Bullying and health at work: The mediating roles of psychological capital and social support (2014, positive): “directly involved (Lutgen-Sandvik, Tracy, & Alberts, 2007; Vartia, 2001).”
Ways of Explaining Workplace Bullying: A Review of Enabling, Motivating and Precipitating Structures and Processes in the Work Environment (2003, background): “In addition, for the victim bullying has been reported to result in both lower levels of job satisfaction, psychosomatic symptoms and physical illness, and possible expulsion from the labour market (Hoel & Cooper, 2000; Keashly & Jagatic, 2003; Leymann, 1996; Vartia, 2001).”
Relationships between bullying, psychosocial work environment and individual stress reactions (2004, background): “…in as much as it is accompanied by negative consequences for victims’ and witnesses’ health and wellbeing (Björkqvist et al. , 1994; Einarsen & Raknes, 1997; Einarsen, Raknes, Matthiesen, & Hellesøy, 1996; Niedl, 1996; O’Moore, Seigne, McGuire, & Smith, 1998; Vartia, 2001; Zapf et al. , 1996).”