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HUMAN RESOURCE PERCEPTIONS OF BULLYING
Last modified: 2018-12-01
Abstract
Workplace bullying is a pervasive problem in many organizations. While opposite gender bullying such as a male bully and female target (male-female) can be presented as sexual harassment, there is no Title VII protection for female-female workplace bullying in the United States (U.S.). In addition, workplace bullying is often measured by self-report, i.e., the target. Prior research has not investigated human resource professional (HRP) observations of female-female workplace bullying behaviors. Using an online survey sample of 97 complete-data U.S. HRPs, this study tested two research questions: (1) are there relationships between HRP gender, age, career tenure to frequency of self-reported observations of female-female workplace bullying; and (2) is there a relationship between HRP need for approval to frequency of self-reported observations of female-female workplace bullying? Results did not show any relationships of HRP gender, age or career tenure to self-reported observed female-female workplace bullying, but did find a significant negative relationship of HRP need for approval to self-reported observed bullying. Implications for HRPs as well as study limitations are discussed.
Keywords
human resource professional; female-female workplace bullying behavior; need for approval