Introduction: To improve our understanding of how people engage in altruistic behavior, it is important to investigate the motives provided by help recipients and how these motives influence givers' helping behaviors. Method: In the present study we conduct three experiments (total N = 606), exploring how the financial motivation of help recipients can affect givers' helping behaviors. Results and discussion: We find that people like to help others but resent helping those motivated by immediate financial gains. Study 1 shows that the recipient of help influenced the responses of the helpers depending on whether the recipient was making a sales profit from this help or not. An influencing factor was whether the recipient could provide an excuse for making such a profit. Study 2 replicated these findings also in conditions in which other kinds of profits were applied. Study 3 confirmed the results in conditions in which helpers were informed about recipients' financial motives before deciding whether to help.
In the present study, we proposed and tested a conceptual model of length of service in the organization as a moderator of the relationship between exposure to workplace bullying behaviors and turnover intention, as mediated through job dissatisfaction. Specifically, based on the conservation of resources theory and organizational socialization research, we hypothesized that bullying exposure would be more detrimental to employees relatively new to the organization, and less so to those with a long length of service. We employed a probability sample from the Norwegian workforce (N = 1003), with data collected at two time-points separated by six months. In line with previous research, we found that exposure to workplace bullying behaviors predicts increased levels of stability-adjusted turnover intentions, and, that job dissatisfaction mediates this association. Moreover, the mediation effect was dependent on length of service, such that it only was present at average (50th percentile; 8.5 years) and short employment length (16th percentile; 2.5 years), and was significantly stronger for the latter group. Additionally, a Johnson-Neyman test of significance regions revealed that the moderation effect became non-significant at the 69th percentile (14.6 years of length of service) in the present sample. This indicates that while short length of service represents a risk condition for work-related outcomes of bullying exposure, long length of service may represent a resource relating to individual resilience that accumulates over long time-spans.
Purpose: Previous studies have demonstrated that perceived job insecurity climate denotes an individual-level stressor. The present study reiterated this notion and investigated whether leadership responsibility moderated the association between perceived job insecurity climate and work-related strain about one year into the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of full-time workers (N = 1,399) in the USA was recruited, comprising 663 leaders and 763 non-leaders. Employing a cross-sectional design, the authors hypothesized that perceived job insecurity climate would be associated with work-related strain (i.e. burnout, absenteeism and presenteeism) and that these associations were stronger for employees with leadership responsibilities compared to non-leaders. Findings: Findings revealed main effects of perceived job insecurity climate on burnout but not on absenteeism or presenteeism. Furthermore, leadership responsibility moderated the associations between perceived job insecurity climate and two out of three burnout measures in the hypothesized direction. The findings also revealed interaction effects regarding absenteeism and presenteeism, indicating that these associations are only positive and significant for employees with leadership responsibilities. Practical implications: Perceptions of widespread job insecurity engender strain among leaders while simultaneously implying a heightened need for effective leadership. Organizations and practitioners should take the present findings into consideration when implementing preventive and restorative measures to address leaders' health and organizational competitiveness when job insecurity increases. Originality/value: This study found that, as an individual stressor, perceived job insecurity climate is more detrimental to employees with leadership responsibility than to non-leaders.
Glambek, Mats; Einarsen, Ståle & Notelaers, Guy (2020)
Workplace bullying as predicted by non-prototypicality, group identification and norms: a self-categorisation perspective
Research and theory on deviance in work groups suggest that non-prototypical members risk devaluation and mistreatment by their peers. Drawing on the self-categorisation theory, we propose and test a contextual model to explain workplace bullying from a target perspective, using non-prototypicality as a predictor and social identification and anti-bullying norms at the work group level as two- and three-way cross-level moderators. Multilevel modelling and a sample of employees from the university sector in the Low Lands (n = 572) was employed. In line with our first hypothesis, we found that risk of exposure to workplace bullying is particularly high for non-prototypical work group members. We also hypothesised that work group social identification would facilitate bullying of non-prototypical members, while anti-bullying norms would buffer it. Results showed, however, that both conditions acted as buffering moderators on the main association. Lastly, the combination of the two also entailed a cross-level three-way interaction effect, showing that non-prototypicality is associated with bullying only in work groups characterised by low levels on both moderators. These novel and partly unexpected results demonstrate the relevance and significance of group level explanations for workplace bullying, holding significant implications for scholars and practitioners.
Glambek, Mats; Skogstad, Anders & Einarsen, Ståle (2020)
Does the number of perpetrators matter? An extension and re-analysis of workplace bullying as a risk factor for exclusion from working life
Based on a nationally representative sample (N = 1,613) and a true prospective design, we show that the link between self‐labelled workplace bullying and exclusion from working life (i.e., becoming a non‐participant in working life) over a 5‐year time lag becomes stronger with increasing numbers of perpetrators involved. The amount of exposure to bullying behaviours could not explain the added effect of multiple perpetrators, indicating that the presence of multiple perpetrators is significant in and of itself. A post hoc descriptive cross‐tabulation analysis also showed that when one or two perpetrators were involved at T1, the rate of exclusion from working life 5 years later did not differ substantially from the normal population's exclusion rate. When three or more perpetrators were involved, on the other hand, the exclusion rate approached 50%, indicating that ≥3 perpetrators could denote a critical cut‐off point for a distinguishable group‐bullying phenomenon, at least with respect to exclusion from working life.
Purpose
Intention to leave as an outcome of exposure to workplace bullying is well documented in previous studies, yet, research on explanatory conditions for such an association is lacking.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study investigates the relationship between injustice perceptions, exposure to bullying behaviors and turnover intention, employing a moderated mediation analysis based on a reanalysis and extension of data gathered among a sample of Norwegian bus drivers (N = 1, 024).
Findings
As hypothesized, injustice perceptions were indirectly related to intention to leave via workplace bullying, however, only under conditions of higher perceived injustice levels.
Practical implications
The results underscore the importance of preventing workplace bullying and of maintaining ample levels of justice at work, where employees are treated with fairness and respect.
Originality/value
The study adds important knowledge to the bullying literature by focusing on the role of mechanisms and moderators in bullying situations, investigating how the combination of workplace bullying and injustice perceptions is reflected in employees' intention to leave the organization.
Leadership ostracism denotes a severe work stressor, potentially entailing more serious negative effects than other types of workplace ostracism. However, scholars have paid relatively little attention to ostracism carried out by leaders, leaving the phenomenon insufficiently accounted for in the literature. Hence, the present study aims to explore the content and typology of leadership ostracism behavior by in-depth interviews and inductive analyses based on grounded theory, in order to give a thorough presentation and description of the leadership ostracism concept as perceived and construed by Chinese subordinates. Respondents were invited using a snowball sampling technique, and the final sample consisted of 26 individuals employed in different Chinese firms. Based on the reported experience of the interviewees, 11 concrete leadership ostracism behaviors emerged from the data. Further analyses revealed a leadership ostracism behavioral typology model reflecting five core categories, i.e., general ignoring, neglect, exclusion, differential treatment, and undermining. These findings appear to partly replicate and partly expand on previous conceptualizations of workplace ostracism, indicating that leadership ostracism may reflect a distinct variant of the phenomenon, eligible to be studied in its own right. The present study also discusses certain culture-specific aspects of leadership ostracism that can be taken into consideration in future studies.
Glambek, Mats; Skogstad, Anders & Einarsen, Ståle (2018)
Workplace bullying, the development of job insecurity and the role of laissez-faire leadership: A two-wave moderated mediation study
Gender differences in the relationship between workplace bullying and subjective back and neck pain: A two-wave study in a Norwegian probability sample
Objective: The association between exposure to bullying at work and subsequent pain reports is relatively well-established, but few studies have examined possible moderators of this relationship. As gender is a known risk factor for pain, with women reporting pain levels of higher intensity and longer duration, a possible gender difference in the relationship between bullying and pain has been suggested, but not sufficiently tested. The objective of the present study was therefore to examine whether gender moderates the prospective relationship between exposure to workplace bullying behaviours and subsequent subjective back and neck pain.
Methods: A national probability sample of Norwegian workers (N = 1003) was collected at two time points with a six-month time-lag. Assumptions were tested using regression and moderation analyses.
Results: Exposure to bullying behaviours was associated with increased reports of subjective back and neck pain over time, and this relationship was moderated by gender. However, the interaction took a different form than expected, with back and neck pain increasing in response to bullying among men only, to a degree that nullified the baseline gender difference.
Conclusion: The assumption that being female is a vulnerability factor for the development of pain in the aftermath of psychosocial stressors such as bullying was contradicted in the present study. Instead, women's relatively high baseline pain levels remain stable over time even after exposure to workplace bullying, while men's relatively low baseline pain levels increase in response to bullying, ultimately becoming tangent to the pain reported by women.
Glambek, Mats; Skogstad, Anders & Einarsen, Ståle (2016)
Do the bullies survive? A five-year, three-wave prospective study of indicators of expulsion in working life among perpetrators of workplace bullying
Workplace bullying is a severe problem in contemporary working life, affecting up to 15 per cent of employees. Among the detrimental outcomes of bullying, it is even postulated as a major risk factor for exclusion from work. In support of this claim, the current study demonstrates that exposure to bullying behaviour predicts an increase in both levels of job insecurity and intention to leave over a 6-month time lag, among a random sample of North Sea workers (n = 734). The findings suggest that bullied employees are insecure about the permanence and content of their job, and they may be at risk of turnover and exclusion from working life. It is recommended that these outcomes are taken into consideration when incidences of workplace bullying are addressed.
Glambek, Mats (2018)
3 prosent av lederne blir mobbet
[Kronikk]
Glambek, Mats (2018)
Samtaler mellom skyttergravene
[Kronikk]
Glambek, Mats (2016)
Når offeret tar støyten
[Kronikk]
Ågotnes, Kari Wik; Glambek, Mats, Hoprekstad, Øystein Løvik, Zahlquist, Lena Aadnevik & Einarsen, Kari (2024)
The impact of bystanders’ perceived access to resources on intervention behaviour in bullying situations
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Background
Workplace bullying is a prevailing workplace problem, with numerous studies documenting the detrimental impact of bullying on targets, bystanders, and organisations (Einarsen & Ågotnes, 2023). Concurrently, knowledge about the behavioural reactions of bystanders, which may have implications for how and when bullying situations persist and unfold, is still scarce. This exploratory study aims to investigate whether bystanders’ perceived access to resources at the group, department, and organisation levels will heighten the probability of bystander intervention. Specifically, it will investigate the effect of bystanders' perceived level of psychological safety, laissez-faire leadership (as a measure of a lack of department-level resources), and HR support on intervention behaviour enacted by bystanders as a reaction to a bullying situation.
Method
Data for the present study is part of an ongoing data collection using a convenience sample, where we have planned for three measurement points with 12-week time lags. Currently, we have completed the first round of data collection (N=756). We measured bullying intervention by asking respondents to indicate whether they had witnessed bullying behaviour enacted against co-workers during the past 12 weeks and further to indicate their behavioural response as either active/constructive (i.e., notifying the organisation, supporting the target in the situation, and/or offering support to the target at a later time) or passive (i.e., keeping away). These categories were dichotomized before our analyses so that we could compare each of the constructive behaviours to the passive behaviour separately. We performed several logistic regression analyses in SPSS, where the individuals’ perceived psychological safety, laissez-faire leadership, and HR support, respectively, were included as independent variables, and the different dichotomized categories of bystanders' intervention behaviours were included as dependent variables. We controlled for gender, leader status, and respondents’ reported exposure to negative acts.
Results
Results based on the cross-sectional (baseline) sample showed that individuals reporting high psychological safety were more likely to a) notify the organisation vs. keeping away (OR = 1.846, p
Hoprekstad, Øystein Løvik; Einarsen, Kari & Glambek, Mats (2024)
Managerial antecedents of workplace ostracism: A weekly diary study on the role of laissez-faire leadership and perceived conflict management climate
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Glambek, Mats; Hoprekstad, Øystein Løvik, Einarsen, Kari & O'Reilly, Jane (2024)
Workplace ostracism and employee outcomes from a psychological safety perspective: A weekly diary study
[Conference Lecture]. Event
Einarsen, Kari; Ågotnes, Kari Wik, Glambek, Mats, Hoprekstad, Øystein Løvik & Zahlquist, Lena Aadnevik (2024)
