Workplace bullying and employee silence. A moderated mediation model of psychological contract violation and workplace friendship
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-03-2017-0071 |
Pages | 226-256 |
Published date | 05 February 2018 |
Date | 05 February 2018 |
Author | Arpana Rai,Upasna A. Agarwal |
Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Workplace bullying and
employee silence
A moderated mediation model of psychological
contract violation and workplace friendship
Arpana Rai and Upasna A. Agarwal
Department of Management and Organizational Behaviour,
National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai, India
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of workplace bullying on employee silence
(defensive, relational, and ineffectual silence), and to test the mediating role of psychological contract violation
(PCV) in this relationship and the extent to which the mediation is moderated by workplace friendship.
Design/methodology/approach –Data were collected from 835 full-time Indian managerial employees
working in different Indian organizations.
Findings –Results revealed that workplace bullying positively correlated with silence (defensive, relational,
and ineffectual silence). The hypothesized moderated mediation condition was supported as results suggest
that PCV mediated the bullying-silence relationship and workplace friendship moderated this mediating
pathway, i.e. indirect effects of workplace bullying on employee silence via PCV were weaker for employees
with high workplace friendship.
Research limitations/implications –A cross-sectional design, use of self-reported questionnaires, and
gender-blind perspective to examine bullying are few limitations of this study.
Practical implications –This is the first study examining employee silence in response to workplace
bullying and one of the few attempts to examine employees’passive coping strategies in response to
workplace mistreatment. This study is also one of the rare attempts to examine bullying-outcomes
relationship in the Indian context.
Social implications –A well-formulated and effectively implemented anti-bullying policy and management
support may encourage employees to combat bullying by raising their voices against it.
Originality/value –This is the first study examining employee silence in response to workplace bullying.
This study is also one of the rare attempts to examine bullying-outcomes relationship in the Indian context.
Keywords Quantitative, Workplace bullying, Workplace friendship, Psychological contract violation,
Defensive silence, relational silence, ineffectual silence
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Workplacebullying –a form of interpersonal mistreatment –is definedas a situationin which
an employee feelsconstantly and persistentlysubjected to negative behaviorsat the hands of
others in the workplace (Einarsen et al., 2011), typically by those in supervisory positions
(D’Cruz and Rayner, 2013; Lutgen-Sandvik et al., 2007). Research over the past two and half
decades has shown that workplace bullying is related to a host of negative workplace
attitudes and behaviors (Nielsen and Einarsen, 2012). Conventionally, the extant literature on
interpersonal mistreatment (Cole et al., 2016; Hershcovis, 2011; Tepper and Henle, 2011) has
examined three waysin which employees respond to mistreatment at work –by withholding
discretionary behaviors (e.g. reduced workplace engagement, creativity, and citizenship
behaviors, Einarsen et al., 2016; Lee et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2012; Park and Ono, 2016;
Trépanier et al., 2015); by depicting dissatisfying behaviors and attitudes (e.g. job
dissatisfaction, increased intention to quit; Giorgi et al., 2015;Glasø et al., 2011; Glambek et al.,
2014; Houshmandet al., 2012; Tepper et al., 2009); and byengaging in revenge and retaliatory
behaviors (e.g. increased workplace deviance and neglect; Kwan et al., 2016; Mitchell and
Ambrose, 2007; Peng et al., 2016). Recently, scholars have begun to examine the passive
Personnel Review
Vol. 47 No. 1, 2018
pp. 226-256
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-03-2017-0071
Received 14 March 2017
Revised 1 November 2017
Accepted 26 November 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
226
PR
47,1
coping strategiesof employees in response to mistreatment at work (e.g. silenceand feedback
avoidance; Kiewitz et al., 2002; Whitman et al., 2014; Xu et al., 2015).
Employee silence, defined as an employee intentionally withholding ideas, information,
concerns, and opinions about issues relatedto their job and the organization (Brinsfield, 2013;
Dyne et al., 2003), is one of the most significant passive responses that employees display in
the face of mistreatment at work (Xu et al., 2015). Unfortunately, there i s so far only limit ed
knowledge on the relationship between workplace bullying and employee silence (Lutgen-
Sandvik, 2003;Rai and Agarwal, 2017a). The presentstudy aims to fill this gap in the research
by examining the bullying-silence relationship. Building on the conservation of resources
(COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989), we postulate that workplace bullying triggers a process of
resource loss,and employees are likely to opt to remain silentin order to protect and conserve
their remaining resources.
A major oversight in the extant literature on bullying is its limited focus on the
underlying and intervening mechanisms involved in the bullying-outcomes relationship
(Park and Ono, 2016; Tuckey and Neall, 2014). Researchers widely recognize that
individuals tend to have emotional responses to events occurring within the organizational
setting (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996). Unfavorable workplace episodes are in particular
known to engender strong negative feelings (Rozin and Royzman, 2001) that, in turn,
adversely influence attitudes and behaviors in relation to work (Kiefer, 2005; Cole et al., 2008;
Elfenbein, 2007; Kiefer, 2005). The extant literature on bullying suggests that affective
states are central underlying mechanisms in the bullying-outcomes relationship
(Glasø et al., 2010; Glasø and Notelaers, 2012). One such significant affective state is
psychological contract violation (PCV), a well-established mediator between negative
workplace situations and important employee outcomes (Callea et al., 2016; Kernan et al.,
2016; Restubog et al., 2013; Tekleab et al., 2005) that has recently gained attention in
the literature on bullying (Rai and Agarwal, 2017a; Salin and Notela ers, 2017).
In order to build on this line of research, the present study aims to examine the bullying-
silence relationship with PCV as a mediator.
An emerging body of research suggests that employees’reactions to workplace
situations may vary depending on the availability of resources to them (Hobfoll, 1989;
Kay et al., 2008; Lam et al., 2010). Workplace relationships, especially with coworkers and
colleagues, constitute a major resource pool for employees (Halbesleben, 2006) and are found
to be pivotal in determining employees’reactions to workplace events (Rath, 2006). In this
study, we also aim to examine the buffering effects of workplace friendships in the bullying-
outcomes relationship. We extend the COR theory to explain the mediating and moderating
roles of PCV and workplace friendships in the bullying-silence relationship. The COR theory
suggests that resource loss makes employees more vulnerable to further resource loss,
especially in case of negative emotional sequels and a lower availability of potential
supportive resources (Wheeler et al., 2010; Wright and Hobfoll, 2004).
The present study contributes to the extant literature in several ways. First, it helps
broaden the existing knowledge on the deleterious impact of workplace bullying and is the
first study to empirically examine employee silence in response to workplace bullying and
one of the few attempts to examine employees’passive coping strategies in response to
workplace mistreatment. Second, by examining PCV as a mediator in this relationship, this
study seeks to determine why employees facing workplace bullying are likely to respond by
engaging in silence behaviors. Third, the study contributes to the existing literature on
bullying by examining workplace friendships as a potential resource that can attenuate the
negative influences of bullying. An examination of such factors is important, as employees
might frequently be reluctant to report negative workplace behaviors due to different
reasons, and the personal and professional resources available to them may be their only
recourse and source of help in coping with workplace bullying (Harvey et al., 2007).
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Workplace
bullying and
employee
silence
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