Conceptualizing and Measuring Workplace Abuse: Implications for the Study of Abuse’s Predictors and Consequences

Abstract

Workplace abuse, interpersonal mistreatment that occurs within the victim’s work environment, has attracted considerable attention in recent years. In this chapter, we argue that problems with the conceptualization and measurement of workplace abuse have thwarted scientific progress. We identify two needs that we believe are especially pressing: (a) the need to consider the construct breadth of workplace abuse scales and (b) the need to test whether the measures of various types of workplace abuse effectively capture the unique qualities of the constructs they purport to assess. To guide our discussion of these issues, we conducted a review of the item content of several workplace abuse measures. We offer suggestions for addressing these and other conceptualization and measurement issues, and we discuss the possible implications of these issues on the study of the hypothesized predictors and consequences of workplace abuse.

Citation

Bowling, N.A., Camus, K.A. and Blackmore, C.E. (2015), "Conceptualizing and Measuring Workplace Abuse: Implications for the Study of Abuse’s Predictors and Consequences", Mistreatment in Organizations (Research in Occupational Stress and Well Being, Vol. 13), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 225-263. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-355520150000013008