Unmasking the influence of employees’ coping strategies on workplace bullying

ABSTRACT

Bullying is known to impair employees’ emotional state; however, the employees’ coping strategies used to manage stress may contribute to employees’ emotional state and their exposure to workplace bullying. Hence, drawing from the Cognitive Theory of Stress and Coping and the Three-Way Model of Workplace Bullying, our study hypothesized a link between coping strategies and exposure to workplace bullying. We proposed that active coping (problem-oriented and seeking support) is negatively related to workplace bullying exposure, while passive coping (avoidance-oriented) is positively associated with bullying exposure. Emotional exhaustion was posited to mediate this association by decreasing the effect of the active and increasing the passive strategy. Results from employing PLS-SEM on data from 440 participants indicated that avoidance-oriented coping influences bullying exposure and emotional exhaustion positively. Problem-oriented coping mitigates emotional exhaustion with no impact on bullying exposure. While problem-oriented coping negatively affects emotional exhaustion, it demonstrates no effect on bullying exposure. The discussion delves into theoretical insights, practical implications, and paths for future research.

抽象的

眾所周知，霸凌行為會損害員工的情緒狀態； 然而，員工用於管理壓力的應對策略可能會影響員工的情緒狀態並導致他們遭受工作場所霸凌。 因此，根據壓力與因應認知理論和工作場所霸凌三向模型，我們的研究假設因應策略與職場霸凌暴露之間存在著關聯。 我們提出，主動因應（以問題為導向並尋求支持）與職場霸凌暴露呈負相關，而被動因應（以迴避為導向）與霸凌暴露呈正相關。 情緒耗竭被認為是透過減少主動策略的影響並增加被動策略來介導這種關聯。 對 440 名參與者的數據採用 PLS-SEM 的結果表明，迴避型因應方式對霸凌暴露和情緒耗竭產生正面影響。 以問題為導向的因應方式可以減輕情緒疲憊，但不會影響霸凌暴露。 雖然以問題為導向的因應方式會對情緒疲憊產生負面影響，但它對霸凌暴露沒有影響。 討論深入探討了理論見解、實際意義和未來研究的路徑。

KEYWORDS:

• Coping strategies
• workplace bullying
• emotional exhaustion
• hotel industry

關鍵字:

• 因應策略、職場霸凌、情緒疲憊、旅館業

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).