IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i4p1358-d322873.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Job Demand, Job Control, and Impaired Mental Health in the Experience of Workplace Bullying Behavior: A Two-Wave Study

Author

Listed:
  • Cristian Balducci

    (Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

  • Elfi Baillien

    (Department of Work and Organisation Studies, KU Leuven, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
    Department of Psychosocial Science (TOPFORSK), University of Bergen, 5015 Bergen, Norway)

  • Anja Van den Broeck

    (Department of Work and Organisation Studies, KU Leuven, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
    Optentia, North West University, Vanderbijlpark 1900, South Africa)

  • Stefano Toderi

    (Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy)

  • Franco Fraccaroli

    (Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Italy)

Abstract

Workplace bullying is an extreme social stressor at work leading to a severe deterioration of health amongst its targets. Research has revealed two important orders of factors that may trigger workplace bullying: Poor working conditions and individual factors such as impaired mental health that determine a personal psychological vulnerability to bullying. However, research has rarely investigated their role simultaneously. In response, we investigated whether the relationship between poor working conditions (i.e., high job demand) at time 1 (T1) and the experience of bullying at time 2 (T2) is strengthened by experiencing symptoms of impaired mental health at T1. We also tested whether job control—which contributes to better working conditions—at T1 moderates the relationship between job demand at T1 and bullying at T2. Participants ( N = 235) were workers in the health sector. The time lag between T1 and T2 was one year. Cross-lagged path analysis revealed that the relationship between job demand at T1 and the experience of bullying behavior at T2 was strengthened by T1 impaired mental health. This suggests that considering both working conditions and individual factors together may be important for reaching a better understanding of the development of bullying.

Suggested Citation

  • Cristian Balducci & Elfi Baillien & Anja Van den Broeck & Stefano Toderi & Franco Fraccaroli, 2020. "Job Demand, Job Control, and Impaired Mental Health in the Experience of Workplace Bullying Behavior: A Two-Wave Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:4:p:1358-:d:322873
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/4/1358/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/4/1358/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefano Toderi & Cristian Balducci, 2018. "Stress-Preventive Management Competencies, Psychosocial Work Environments, and Affective Well-Being: A Multilevel, Multisource Investigation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, February.
    2. Fernando R. Feijó & Débora D. Gräf & Neil Pearce & Anaclaudia G. Fassa, 2019. "Risk Factors for Workplace Bullying: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-25, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tiziana Ramaci & Venerando Rapisarda & Diego Bellini & Nicola Mucci & Andrea De Giorgio & Massimiliano Barattucci, 2020. "Mindfulness as a Protective Factor for Dissatisfaction in HCWs: The Moderating Role of Mindful Attention between Climate Stress and Job Satisfaction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-16, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gülüm Özer & İdil Işık & Jordi Escartín, 2024. "Is There Somebody Looking out for Me? A Qualitative Analysis of Bullying Experiences of Individuals Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(2), pages 1-22, January.
    2. Mehwish Iftikhar & Muhammad Imran Qureshi & Shazia Qayyum & Iram Fatima & Sriyanto Sriyanto & Yasinta Indrianti & Aqeel Khan & Leo-Paul Dana, 2021. "Impact of Multifaceted Workplace Bullying on the Relationships between Technology Usage, Organisational Climate and Employee Physical and Emotional Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-19, March.
    3. Catalina Sau Man Ng & Victor C. W. Chan, 2021. "Prevalence of Workplace Bullying and Risk Groups in Chinese Employees in Hong Kong," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-11, January.
    4. Cristian Balducci & Chiara Rafanelli & Luca Menghini & Chiara Consiglio, 2024. "The Relationship between Patients’ Demands and Workplace Violence among Healthcare Workers: A Multilevel Look Focusing on the Moderating Role of Psychosocial Working Conditions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(2), pages 1-13, February.
    5. Ilaria Buonomo & Caterina Fiorilli & Luciano Romano & Paula Benevene, 2020. "The Roles of Work-Life Conflict and Gender in the Relationship between Workplace Bullying and Personal Burnout. A Study on Italian School Principals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-17, November.
    6. Gehad Mohammed Ahmed Naji & Ahmad Shahrul Nizam Isha & Abdulsamad Alazzani & Paula Brough & Muhammad Shoaib Saleem & Mysara Eissa Mohyaldinn & Mohammed Alzoraiki, 2022. "Do Leadership, Organizational Communication, and Work Environment Impact Employees’ Psychosocial Hazards in the Oil and Gas Industry?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-20, April.
    7. Lena Serafin & Aleksandra Kusiak & Bożena Czarkowska-Pączek, 2022. "The COVID-19 Pandemic Increased Burnout and Bullying among Newly Graduated Nurses but Did Not Impact the Relationship between Burnout and Bullying and Self-Labelled Subjective Feeling of Being Bullied," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-12, February.
    8. Alan C. Y. Tong & Emily W. S. Tsoi & Winnie W. S. Mak, 2021. "Socioeconomic Status, Mental Health, and Workplace Determinants among Working Adults in Hong Kong: A Latent Class Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-18, July.
    9. Yiqiong Li & Michelle R. Tuckey & Annabelle M. Neall & Alice Rose & Lauren Wilson, 2023. "Changing the Underlying Conditions Relevant to Workplace Bullying through Organisational Redesign," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-27, February.
    10. Young-Jae Kim & Seung-Woo Kang, 2020. "The Quality of Life, Psychological Health, and Occupational Calling of Korean Workers: Differences by the New Classes of Occupation Emerging Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-14, August.
    11. Kari Kristinsson & Sigurdur Gudjonsson & Bryndis Kristjansdottir, 2023. "Tough Times Require Tough People: The Benefits of Grit for Reducing Employee Burnout," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(11), pages 1-8, June.
    12. Lars Peter Sønderbo Andersen & Karin Biering & Paul Maurice Conway, 2023. "Negative Acts as Risk Factor for Work-Related Violence and Threats from Clients towards Employees: A Follow-Up Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-12, February.
    13. Levia Levia & Gurvinder Kaur, 2023. "Targets’ Coping Responses to Workplace Bullying with Moderating Role of Perceived Organizational Tolerance: A Two-Phased Study of Faculty in Higher Education Institutions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-18, January.
    14. Jin Ah Kim, 2023. "Bullying Experiences of Workers in Small-Sized Workplaces: A Phenomenological Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-14, October.
    15. Wenrui Cao & Peikai Li & Reine van der Wal & Toon Taris, 2023. "Leadership and Workplace Aggression: A Meta-analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(2), pages 347-367, August.
    16. Elif Özlem Özçatal & Umur Aşkın, 2022. "Disabled Employees as A Vulnerable Group in the Labor Market and Mobbing: A Qualitative Research in Tokat Province," Journal of Social Policy Conferences, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0(83), pages 39-100, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:4:p:1358-:d:322873. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.