IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecoind/v36y2015i1p123-145.html

Ambivalence: Employee responses to depersonalized bullying at work

Author

Listed:
  • Premilla D’Cruz
  • Ernesto Noronha

Abstract

The present article furthers our understanding of the nascent concept of depersonalized bullying by exploring employee responses to the phenomenon. Through a qualitative enquiry of international-facing call centre agents in India, the major theme of ‘bounded benefits’ captured employees’ response of ambivalence. Valuing their professional identity and material returns while ruing the depersonalized bullying of their oppressive work environment, participants recognized that their gains were limited by but inextricably linked to workplace demands. Perceiving no alternative to the continuity of their benefits, participants emphasized positive aspects of their experiences to reduce their misgivings. In contrast to interpersonal bullying where targets are victimized and undergo severe strain such that they usually exit the employer organization, depersonalized bullying entails a dualistic response where well-being and strain coexist and where approach dimensions compensate for avoidance dimensions such that compromise and trade-off facilitate coping.

Suggested Citation

  • Premilla D’Cruz & Ernesto Noronha, 2015. "Ambivalence: Employee responses to depersonalized bullying at work," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 36(1), pages 123-145, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:36:y:2015:i:1:p:123-145
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X13501001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X13501001
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0143831X13501001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charlotte Rayner, 1999. "From research to implementation: finding leverage for prevention," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(1/2), pages 28-38, February.
    2. Helge Hoel & David Beale, 2006. "Workplace Bullying, Psychological Perspectives and Industrial Relations: Towards a Contextualized and Interdisciplinary Approach," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(2), pages 239-262, June.
    3. Debra E. Meyerson & Maureen A. Scully, 1995. "Crossroads Tempered Radicalism and the Politics of Ambivalence and Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(5), pages 585-600, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Elisabeth Yang & Julia DiBenigno, 2025. "Opportunistic Change During a Punctuation: How and When the Front Lines Can Drive Bursts of Incremental Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(1), pages 40-64, January.
    2. Michel Anteby & Curtis K. Chan, 2018. "A Self-Fulfilling Cycle of Coercive Surveillance: Workers’ Invisibility Practices and Managerial Justification," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 247-263, April.
    3. Elizabeth Quinlan & Susan Robertson & Ann-Marie Urban & Isobel M Findlay & Beth Bilson, 2020. "Ameliorating Workplace Harassment among Direct Caregivers in Canada’s Healthcare System: A Theatre-Based Intervention," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(4), pages 626-643, August.
    4. Muzanenhamo, Penelope & Power, Sean Bradley, 2024. "ChatGPT and accounting in African contexts: Amplifying epistemic injustice," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    5. James Traeger & Carolyn Norgate, 2015. "A safe place to stay sharp: action learning meets cooperative inquiry in the service of NHS OD capacity building," Action Learning: Research and Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 197-207, July.
    6. Inga SHALEV & Adriana PRODAN, 2018. "Limiting Terms of Office for Directors as a Policy Change in the Israeli Nursing System," REVISTA DE MANAGEMENT COMPARAT INTERNATIONAL/REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 19(2), pages 109-123, May.
    7. Abhinav Gupta & Chad Murphy & Forrest Briscoe, 2025. "How Ideologically Opposed Stakeholders Influence Organizational Practice Adoption: Theory and Evidence from the Diffusion of Domestic Partner Benefits in Higher Education," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(6), pages 2284-2303, November.
    8. Elizabeth Quinlan & Susan Robertson & Tracey Carr & Angie Gerrard, 2020. "Workplace Harassment Interventions and Labour Process Theory: A Critical Realist Synthesis of the Literature," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 25(1), pages 3-22, March.
    9. Carl Rhodes, 2017. "Ethical Praxis and the Business Case for LGBT Diversity: Political Insights from Judith Butler and Emmanuel Levinas," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 533-546, September.
    10. Chatterjee, Ira & Cornelissen, Joep & Wincent, Joakim, 2021. "Social entrepreneurship and values work: The role of practices in shaping values and negotiating change," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1).
    11. Nihel Chabrak & Russell Craig & Nabyla Daidj, 2016. "Financialization and the Employee Suicide Crisis at France Telecom," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 501-515, December.
    12. Marina N. Astakhova & Violet T. Ho & Alexander S. McKay, 2024. "Passion Amid the Pandemic: Applying a Person‐Centered Approach to Examine Cross‐Domain Multi‐Passion Profiles during a Crisis," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 1457-1497, June.
    13. Bentley, Tim A. & Catley, Bevan & Cooper-Thomas, Helena & Gardner, Dianne & O’Driscoll, Michael P. & Dale, Alison & Trenberth, Linda, 2012. "Perceptions of workplace bullying in the New Zealand travel industry: Prevalence and management strategies," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 351-360.
    14. Luigi Russi & Cécile Renouard & Nathanaël Wallenhorst, 2024. "Beyond Rupture, Interstice and Reform: Searching for Nuance in the Portrayal of Engagement for Social and Ecological Transition," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 193(3), pages 471-479, September.
    15. Ea Høg Utoft, 2021. "Maneuvering within postfeminism: A study of gender equality practitioners in Danish academia," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 301-317, January.
    16. Benjamin Artz & Amanda H. Goodall & Andrew J. Oswald, 2020. "How Common Are Bad Bosses?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(1), pages 3-39, January.
    17. Premilla D’Cruz & Roelie Mulder & Ernesto Noronha & Niels Beerepoot & Slawek Magala, 2019. "The changing role of the nation-state and regulation: Workplace bullying legislation in The Netherlands," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 30(1), pages 77-98, March.
    18. Stewart, Alex, 2020. "Family control, ambivalence, and preferential benefits," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 11(4).
    19. Kathryn L. Heinze & Klaus Weber, 2016. "Toward Organizational Pluralism: Institutional Intrapreneurship in Integrative Medicine," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 157-172, February.
    20. W. E. Douglas Creed, 2003. "Voice Lessons: Tempered Radicalism and the Use of Voice and Silence," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1503-1536, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sae:ecoind:v:36:y:2015:i:1:p:123-145. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ekhist.uu.se/english.htm .

    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.