Investigating justice and bullying among healthcare workers
ISSN: 0142-5455
Article publication date: 12 September 2020
Issue publication date: 29 December 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between workplace bullying, organizational justice dimensions and intentions to leave. The authors posit that workplace bullying is positively related to intentions to leave, and that this effect is transmitted through lower justice perceptions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors surveyed 146 healthcare workers, using factor analysis and the Preacher and Hayes (2008) PROCESS macro to test their hypotheses.
Findings
The study results indicate that workplace bullying is positively associated with intentions to leave. This effect is transmitted through lower entity-based distributive justice perceptions.
Research limitations/implications
The study sample was cross-sectional and collected at a single point in time. Future research should examine these relationships in a longitudinal method.
Practical implications
The study results suggest that when a healthcare worker experiences bullying in the workplace, they begin to perceive their organization as more unfair. These negative feelings toward their organization lead to a desire to permanently separate from the organization. These results suggest that workplace bullying has serious ramifications for turnover, and that healthcare organizations can mitigate these negative effects by increasing perceptions of organizational justice through being transparent about their decisions and the process going into this decision-making.
Originality/value
These findings extend existing research by empirically testing the effects of workplace bullying on intentions to leave within the healthcare industry.
Keywords
Citation
Medina-Craven, M.N. and Ostermeier, K. (2021), "Investigating justice and bullying among healthcare workers", Employee Relations, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 31-44. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-04-2019-0195
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited