Date of Conferral

2016

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

John Schmidt

Abstract

Workplace bullying has escalated among U.S. workers, and aside from its mental and physical toll, it can affect productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. Researchers have identified the primary causes of workplace bullying as envy, leadership disregard, a permissive climate, organizational culture, and personality traits. This non experimental, quantitative study investigated the predictors of workplace bullying at the target level, and specifically examined if target EI, age, gender, and/or race/ethnicity predicts experienced workplace bullying. Participants (N = 151) 18 years or older with one year of work experience were recruited from the WBI database, a newspaper column, public presentations, and a blog. Participants completed the Negative Acts Questionnaire to assess experienced workplace bullying, the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (Short Form) to assess EI, and a demographic questionnaire. A Pearson's correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. Global trait EI and the 4 trait EI factors of well-being, self-control, emotionality, and sociability were not statistically significantly related to workplace bullying. Further, EI, age, gender, and race/ethnicity were also not related to workplace bullying. Further research is suggested, to include examining organizational effects on workplace bullying. The implications for social change it that resources currently allocated for target can be more appropriately directed toward supervisors and the organization's culture.

Download

Share

 
COinS