Effects of Organizational Cultures and Anti-Bullying Initiatives on Workplace Bullying among Workers in the Healthcare, Education, and Banking Service Industries

Abstract

Noting the increasing media attention and public concerns about the recent workplace bullying problems in private and public sectors, this study examined the effects of organizational cultures and anti-bullying initiatives on workplace bullying among 307 married workers in the healthcare, education, and banking service industries located in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. The major findings were as follows. First, the prevalence of bullying by self-labeling among banking and education service workers was much lower than that measured by 22 negative acts, while the self-labelled bullying rate of healthcare service workers was slightly higher than the prevalence of targets based on exposure to negative acts. Second, the negative acts and behaviors that were directly related to the respondent’s work were the ones that were reported as most frequently experienced in the past 6 months. In particular, the workers reported that information was withheld, which affected their performance, and that they were given tasks clearly below their level of competence. They also rated that their organizational initiatives against bullying were less effective. Finally, the levels of organizational cultures and anti-bullying initiatives were negatively related to bullying respectively. Considering the relative weights, the organizational cultures were overwhelmingly more important than anti-bullying initiatives to reduce bullying and its negative effects.