Workplace Bullying: A Process Model of Unbalanced Psychological Contract Fulfillments
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Published:
Dec 20, 2019
Keywords:
workplace bullying psychological contract fulfillment power dependency
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Abstract
This conceptual paper presents the process whereby supervisors engage in bullying behavior against their subordinates at work. The model draws on Emerson’s (1962) power dependence theory to link psychological contract fulfillment with the bullying literature. Specifically, a conceptual model is developed to portray the process by which supervisors who perceive an unbalanced psychological contract fulfillment (under- or over-fulfilled) might commit one of two different types of workplace bullying (person- or work- related bulling) toward subordinates through the process intended to restore or maintain their sense of power. In addition, self-control and organizational culture are proposed to be the moderators that can affect the relationship between under- and over- fulfilled psychological contracts and bullying perpetration. The model thus contributes to the literature by highlighting the process and interactions of how bullying behavior occurs in the workplace.
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References
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Anderson, L. M., & Pearson, C. M. (1999). Tit for tat? The spiraling effect of incivility in the workplace. Academy of Management Review, 24, 452-471.
Aquino, K., & Lamertz, K. (2004). A relational model of workplace victimization: Social roles and patterns of victimizations in dyadic relationships. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 1023-1034.
Archer, J., Ireland J. L., & Power C. L. (2007). Differences between bullies and victims, and men and women, on aggression-related variables among prisoners. British Journal of Social Psychology, 46, 299-322.
Archer, J., & Southall, N. (2009). Does cost-benefit analysis or self-control predict involvement in bullying behavior by male prisoners? Aggressive Behavior, 35, 31-40.
Ayoko, O. B., Callan, V. J., & Hartel, C. E. (2003). Work place conflict, bullying and counterproductive behaviors. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 11, 283-301.
Bennett, R. J., & Robinson, S. L. (2003). The past, present and future of workplace deviance research. In J. Greenberg (Ed.). Organizational behavior: The state of the science: 247-281(2nd ed.) Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Baillien, E., Rodríguez-Muñoz, A., De Witte, H., Notelaers, G. and Moreno-Jiménez, B. (2011). The demand control model and target’s reports of bullying at work: a test within Spanish and Belgian blue-collar workers. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 20, 157–177.
Bordia, P., Restubog, S. L. D., & Tang, R. L. (2008). When employees strike back: Investigating the mediating mechanism between psychological contract breach and workplace deviance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 1105–1117.
Branch, S., Ramsay, S., & Barker, M. (2013). Workplace bullying, mobbing and general harassment: A review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15, 280–299.
Brodsky, C. M. (1976). The harassed worker. Lexington, D.C.: Health and Company.
Cleveland, J. N. & Kerst M. E. (1993). Sexual harassment and perceptions of power: An under-articulated relationship. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 42, 49–67.
Cook, K. S., & Rice, E. R. (2001). Exchange and power: Issues of structure and agency. In Jonathan H. Turner (Ed.) Handbook of sociological Theory. New York: Kluwer.
Einarsen, S. (1999). The nature and causes of bullying at work. International Journal of Manpower, 20, 16-27.
Einarsen, S. (2000). Harassment and bullying in the workplace: A review of the Scandinavian approach. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 5, 379-401.
Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D. & Cooper, C. L. (2003). The concept of bullying at work: The European tradition. In S. Einarsen, H. Hoel, D. Zapf & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), Bullying and emotional abuse in the workplace: International perspectives in research and practice: 3-30. London: Taylor and Francis.
Einarsen, S., Raknes, B. I., & Mattheisen, S. B. (1994). Bullying and harassment at work and their relationships to work environment quality: An exploratory study. The European Work and Organizational Psychologist, 4, 381-401.
Emerson, R. M. (1962). Power-dependence relations. American Sociological Review, 27, 31-41.
Geen R. G. (2001). Human aggression (2nd ed.) Philadelphia: Open university.
Hoel, H., Rayner, C., & Cooper, C. L. (1999). Workplace bullying. In C.L. Cooper & I.T. Robertson (Eds.). International review of industrial and organizational psychology, 14, 195-230.
Holtom, B. C., Mitchell, T. R., Lee, T. W., & Interrieden, E. J. (2005).Shocks as causes of turnover: What they are and how organizations can manage them. Human Resource Management, 44, 337–352.
Hoobler, J. M., & Brass, D. J. (2006). Abusive supervision and family undermining as displaced aggression. Journal of Applied Psychology, 5, 1125-1133.
Keashly, L. (1998). Emotional abuse in the workplace: Conceptual and empirical issues. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 1, 85-117.
Keashly, L., & Jagatic, K. (2003). By any other name: American perspectives on workplace bullying. In S. Einarsen, H. Hoel, D. Zapf, & C. Cooper (Eds.), Bullying and emotional abuse in the workplace: International research and practice perspectives: 31-61. London: Taylor & Francis.
Leymann, H. (1996). The content and development of mobbing at work. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 5, 165-184.
Macky, K., & Boxall, P. (2016). High performance work systems: Involvement versus intensification. In N.M. Ashkanasy, R.J. Bennet, & M.J. Martinko (Eds.), Understanding the high performance workplace. The line between motivation and abuse: 85-98. London, England: Routledge.
Marcus, B., & Schuler, H. (2004). Antecedent of counterproductive behavior at work: A general perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 647-660.
Morrison, E. W., & Robinson, S. L. 1997. When employees feel betrayed: A model of how psychological contract violation develops. Academy of Management Review, 22, 226-257.
Neuman, R. A., & Baron, J. H. (1998). Workplace violence and workplace aggression: Evidence concerning specific forms, potential causes, and preferred targets. Journal of Management, 24, 391-419.
Rayner, C. & Hoel, H. (1997). A summary review of literature relating to workplace bullying. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 7, 181-191.
Robinson, S. L., & Morrison, E. W. (1995). Psychological contracts and OCB: The effect of unfulfilled obligations on civic virtue behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 16, 289-298.
Robinson, S. L., & Rousseau, D. M. (1994). Violating the psychological contract: Not the exception but the norm. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15, 245-259.
Roland, E. (1989). Bullying: The Scandinavian research tradition. In D. P. Tattum & D. A. Lane (Eds.), Bullying in schools: 21–32. Stoke-on-Trent, England: Trentham Books Limited.
Rosen, C. C., Chang, C. H., Johnson, R. E., & Levy, P. E. (2009). Perceptions of the organizational context and psychological contract breach: Assessing competing perspectives. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 108, 202-217.
Rousseau, D. M. (1989). Psychological and implied contracts in organizations. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 7, 121-139.
Rousseau, D. M. (1990). New hire perceptions of their own and their employer’s obligations: A study of psychological contracts. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 11, 289-300.
Salin, D. (2003). Ways of explaining workplace bullying: A review of enabling, motivating and precipitating structures and processes in the work environment. Human Relations, 56, 1213-1232.
Schein, E. (1985). Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Schein, E. (1990). Organizational Culture. American Psychologist, 45, 109-119.
Shore, L. M., & Barksdale, K. (1998). Examining degree of balance and level of obligation in the employment relationship: A social exchange approach. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 731-744.
Shore, L. M., & Tetrick, L. E. (1994). The psychological contract as an explanatory framework in the employment relationship. In C. L. Cooper & D. M. Rousseau (Eds.). Trends in organizational behavior: 91-109. New York: Wiley.
Tedeschi, J. T., & Felson, R. B. (1994). Violence, aggression and coercive actions. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Vartia, M. (1996). The sources of bullying - psychological work environment and organizational climate. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 5, 203-214.
Zhao, H., Wayne, S. J., Glibkowski, B. C., & Bravo, J. (2007). The impact of PC breach on work-related outcomes: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 60, 647–680.
Anderson, L. M., & Pearson, C. M. (1999). Tit for tat? The spiraling effect of incivility in the workplace. Academy of Management Review, 24, 452-471.
Aquino, K., & Lamertz, K. (2004). A relational model of workplace victimization: Social roles and patterns of victimizations in dyadic relationships. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 1023-1034.
Archer, J., Ireland J. L., & Power C. L. (2007). Differences between bullies and victims, and men and women, on aggression-related variables among prisoners. British Journal of Social Psychology, 46, 299-322.
Archer, J., & Southall, N. (2009). Does cost-benefit analysis or self-control predict involvement in bullying behavior by male prisoners? Aggressive Behavior, 35, 31-40.
Ayoko, O. B., Callan, V. J., & Hartel, C. E. (2003). Work place conflict, bullying and counterproductive behaviors. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 11, 283-301.
Bennett, R. J., & Robinson, S. L. (2003). The past, present and future of workplace deviance research. In J. Greenberg (Ed.). Organizational behavior: The state of the science: 247-281(2nd ed.) Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Baillien, E., Rodríguez-Muñoz, A., De Witte, H., Notelaers, G. and Moreno-Jiménez, B. (2011). The demand control model and target’s reports of bullying at work: a test within Spanish and Belgian blue-collar workers. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 20, 157–177.
Bordia, P., Restubog, S. L. D., & Tang, R. L. (2008). When employees strike back: Investigating the mediating mechanism between psychological contract breach and workplace deviance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 1105–1117.
Branch, S., Ramsay, S., & Barker, M. (2013). Workplace bullying, mobbing and general harassment: A review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15, 280–299.
Brodsky, C. M. (1976). The harassed worker. Lexington, D.C.: Health and Company.
Cleveland, J. N. & Kerst M. E. (1993). Sexual harassment and perceptions of power: An under-articulated relationship. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 42, 49–67.
Cook, K. S., & Rice, E. R. (2001). Exchange and power: Issues of structure and agency. In Jonathan H. Turner (Ed.) Handbook of sociological Theory. New York: Kluwer.
Einarsen, S. (1999). The nature and causes of bullying at work. International Journal of Manpower, 20, 16-27.
Einarsen, S. (2000). Harassment and bullying in the workplace: A review of the Scandinavian approach. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 5, 379-401.
Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D. & Cooper, C. L. (2003). The concept of bullying at work: The European tradition. In S. Einarsen, H. Hoel, D. Zapf & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), Bullying and emotional abuse in the workplace: International perspectives in research and practice: 3-30. London: Taylor and Francis.
Einarsen, S., Raknes, B. I., & Mattheisen, S. B. (1994). Bullying and harassment at work and their relationships to work environment quality: An exploratory study. The European Work and Organizational Psychologist, 4, 381-401.
Emerson, R. M. (1962). Power-dependence relations. American Sociological Review, 27, 31-41.
Geen R. G. (2001). Human aggression (2nd ed.) Philadelphia: Open university.
Hoel, H., Rayner, C., & Cooper, C. L. (1999). Workplace bullying. In C.L. Cooper & I.T. Robertson (Eds.). International review of industrial and organizational psychology, 14, 195-230.
Holtom, B. C., Mitchell, T. R., Lee, T. W., & Interrieden, E. J. (2005).Shocks as causes of turnover: What they are and how organizations can manage them. Human Resource Management, 44, 337–352.
Hoobler, J. M., & Brass, D. J. (2006). Abusive supervision and family undermining as displaced aggression. Journal of Applied Psychology, 5, 1125-1133.
Keashly, L. (1998). Emotional abuse in the workplace: Conceptual and empirical issues. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 1, 85-117.
Keashly, L., & Jagatic, K. (2003). By any other name: American perspectives on workplace bullying. In S. Einarsen, H. Hoel, D. Zapf, & C. Cooper (Eds.), Bullying and emotional abuse in the workplace: International research and practice perspectives: 31-61. London: Taylor & Francis.
Leymann, H. (1996). The content and development of mobbing at work. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 5, 165-184.
Macky, K., & Boxall, P. (2016). High performance work systems: Involvement versus intensification. In N.M. Ashkanasy, R.J. Bennet, & M.J. Martinko (Eds.), Understanding the high performance workplace. The line between motivation and abuse: 85-98. London, England: Routledge.
Marcus, B., & Schuler, H. (2004). Antecedent of counterproductive behavior at work: A general perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 647-660.
Morrison, E. W., & Robinson, S. L. 1997. When employees feel betrayed: A model of how psychological contract violation develops. Academy of Management Review, 22, 226-257.
Neuman, R. A., & Baron, J. H. (1998). Workplace violence and workplace aggression: Evidence concerning specific forms, potential causes, and preferred targets. Journal of Management, 24, 391-419.
Rayner, C. & Hoel, H. (1997). A summary review of literature relating to workplace bullying. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 7, 181-191.
Robinson, S. L., & Morrison, E. W. (1995). Psychological contracts and OCB: The effect of unfulfilled obligations on civic virtue behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 16, 289-298.
Robinson, S. L., & Rousseau, D. M. (1994). Violating the psychological contract: Not the exception but the norm. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15, 245-259.
Roland, E. (1989). Bullying: The Scandinavian research tradition. In D. P. Tattum & D. A. Lane (Eds.), Bullying in schools: 21–32. Stoke-on-Trent, England: Trentham Books Limited.
Rosen, C. C., Chang, C. H., Johnson, R. E., & Levy, P. E. (2009). Perceptions of the organizational context and psychological contract breach: Assessing competing perspectives. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 108, 202-217.
Rousseau, D. M. (1989). Psychological and implied contracts in organizations. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 7, 121-139.
Rousseau, D. M. (1990). New hire perceptions of their own and their employer’s obligations: A study of psychological contracts. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 11, 289-300.
Salin, D. (2003). Ways of explaining workplace bullying: A review of enabling, motivating and precipitating structures and processes in the work environment. Human Relations, 56, 1213-1232.
Schein, E. (1985). Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Schein, E. (1990). Organizational Culture. American Psychologist, 45, 109-119.
Shore, L. M., & Barksdale, K. (1998). Examining degree of balance and level of obligation in the employment relationship: A social exchange approach. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 731-744.
Shore, L. M., & Tetrick, L. E. (1994). The psychological contract as an explanatory framework in the employment relationship. In C. L. Cooper & D. M. Rousseau (Eds.). Trends in organizational behavior: 91-109. New York: Wiley.
Tedeschi, J. T., & Felson, R. B. (1994). Violence, aggression and coercive actions. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Vartia, M. (1996). The sources of bullying - psychological work environment and organizational climate. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 5, 203-214.
Zhao, H., Wayne, S. J., Glibkowski, B. C., & Bravo, J. (2007). The impact of PC breach on work-related outcomes: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 60, 647–680.