A role that takes its toll? The moderating role of leadership in role stress and exposure to workplace bullying
International Journal of Conflict Management
ISSN: 1044-4068
Article publication date: 10 November 2023
Issue publication date: 16 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the article is to provide further evidence for the work environment hypothesis. According to the work environment hypothesis and as documented by empirical evidence, organizational factors play a crucial role in the development of workplace bullying. However, to better understand and prevent bullying at work and establish sustainable, responsible and ethical workplaces, it is crucial to understand which organizational factors are particularly important in the development of bullying and how these factors, independently and combined, act as precursors to bullying over time. One prominent theory that explains how organizational and individual factors interact is the affective events theory (AET).
Design/methodology/approach
In a two-wave, time-lagged study (N = 364), the authors apply AET to test and explain the interplay of organizational factors in the development of bullying at work.
Findings
The results revealed that supportive and fair leadership moderates the relationship between role stress and exposure to workplace bullying.
Practical implications
Knowledge of the buffering role of supportive and fair leadership practices is important when implementing organizational interventions aimed at preventing bullying at work.
Originality/value
Although previous studies have shown the general protecting effects of supportive leadership on exposure to bullying, the current study indicates that high level of supportive and fair leadership practices decreases the level of exposure to bullying, even when role ambiguity and role conflict are relatively high.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Disclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Erratum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that the article Stapinski, P., Bjørkelo, B., D’Cruz, P., Mikkelsen, E.G. and Gamian-Wilk, M. (2023), “A role that takes its toll? The moderating role of leadership in role stress and exposure to workplace bullying”, International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-03-2023-0047 was published with errors to some of the calculations and tables, which were inadvertently missed at proofing stage, this new version is the complete and corrected version.
Citation
Stapinski, P., Bjørkelo, B., D'Cruz, P., Mikkelsen, E.G. and Gamian-Wilk, M. (2023), "A role that takes its toll? The moderating role of leadership in role stress and exposure to workplace bullying", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 34 No. 5, pp. 1041-1058. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-03-2023-0047
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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