Bullying and an unfavourable working environment

International Journal of Workplace Health Management, Ahead of Print. Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to reveal the relationship between perceived bullying and the features of a favourable working environment; and second, to indicate bullying factors that especially worsen the working environment and working environment factors that contribute to the bullying experiences. Design/methodology/approach In Spring 2014, 864 staff members —including teachers, researchers, administrators, project workers and service staff—from nine Estonian universities answered an e-mail questionnaire. Findings It was revealed that “professional understating”, “unreasonable work-related demands” and “work-related malpractice” are fo rms of bullying that negatively affect the working atmosphere. “Appreciation”, “vertical trust”, “predictability” and “quality of leadership” are working environment factors that contribute to the experiences of bullying. Experiences of “professional understating” seem to reduce feelings related to all features of a favourable working atmosphere. A lack of “appreciation” appears to be a key environment feature that also plays a role in workplace bullying. Research limitations/implications In Estonian universities, first, “professional understating” negatively affe cts the feelings of “appreciation”; in contrast, a lack of “appreciation” contributes to feelings of “professional understating”...
Source: International Journal of Workplace Health Management - Category: Occupational Health Source Type: research