Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-rbxfs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-10T14:39:42.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“I Have Been Bullied at Workplace!”: A Qualitative Study on Italian Employees’ Stories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2018

Andrea Caputo Open the ORCID record for Andrea Caputo [Opens in a new window]
Andrea Caputo*
Affiliation:
Sapienza Università di Roma (Italy)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Andrea Caputo. Dipartimento di Psicologia Dinamica e Clinica della Sapienza Università di Roma. Roma (Italy). E-mail: andrea.caputo@uniroma1.it
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present study explored some common thematic domains which characterized workplace bullying stories of adult Italian participants. Emotional Text Analysis was performed on 28 workplace bullying stories in order to detect the main themes (cluster analysis) and latent factors (correspondence analysis) emerging in bullied workers’ narratives. Five thematic domains were detected in the textual corpus (p < .05, at 95% confidence level), which are respectively referred to as: organizational constraints (14.10%), treatment discrimination (10.04%), unjust accusations (30.77%), emotional abuse (14.53%), and job duty changes (30.56%). Four latent factors explained the overall data variance: Sense of precariousness (F1, 34.38% of variance), lack of recognition (F2, 26.35%), feeling of exclusion (F3, 23.01%) and job disengagement (F4, 16.27%). From the emotional experience shaping the relationship between bullied workers and their work environments, this research study allows the identification of some organizational situations that are “at risk” for workplace bullying in order to promote better organizational health.

Keywords

narrativequalitative studytext analysisworkplace bullying

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 21 , 2018 , E25
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aiello, A., Deitinger, P., Nardella, C., & Bonafede, M. (2008). A tool for assessing the risk of mobbing in organizational environments: The “Val. Mob.” Scale. Prevenzione Oggi, 4(3), 9–26.Google Scholar
Arenas, A., Giorgi, G., Montani, F., Mancuso, S., Perez, J. F., Mucci, N., & Arcangeli, G. (2015). Workplace bullying in a sample of Italian and Spanish employees and its relationship with job satisfaction, and psychological well-being. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(1912). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01912CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balducci, C., Cecchin, M., & Fraccaroli, F. (2012). The impact of role stressors on workplace bullying in both victims and perpetrators, controlling for personal vulnerability factors: A longitudinal analysis. Work & Stress, 26(3), 195–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2012.714543CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balducci, C., Fraccaroli, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2011). Workplace bullying and its relation with work characteristics, personality, and post-traumatic stress symptoms: An integrated model. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 24(5), 499–513. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2011.555533CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bocciardi, F., Caputo, A., Fregonese, C., Langher, V., & Sartori, R. (2017). Career adaptability as a strategic competence for career development: An exploratory study of its key predictors. European Journal of Training and Development, 41(1), 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-07-2016-0049CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowling, N. A., & Beehr, T. A. (2006). Workplace harassment from the victim’s perspective: A theoretical model and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 998–1012. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.5.998CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campanini, P. M., Punzi, S., Costa, G., & Conway, P. M. (2008, June). Workplace bullying in a large sample of Italian workers. Paper presented at the Sixth International Conference on Workplace Bullying, Montreal, Canada.Google Scholar
Caputo, A. (2013). Cultural models shaping stalking from a content analysis of Italian newspapers. Europe’s Journal of Psychology (EJOP), 9(3), 443–460. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v9i3.604CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caputo, A. (2014a). Exploring quality of life in Italian patients with rare disease: A computer-aided content analysis of illness stories. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 19(2), 211–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2013.793372CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caputo, A. (2014b). I modelli culturali nel discorso sul cybersex: Analisi di un corpus di articoli di giornale [Cultural models in cybersex discourse: analysis of newspaper articles]. Psicologia Della Salute, 1, 5–28. https://doi.org/10.3280/PDS2014-001001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caputo, A., Giacchetta, A., & Langher, V. (2016). AIDS as social construction: Text mining of AIDS-related information in the Italian press. AIDS Care, 28(9), 1171–1176. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2016.1153591CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carli, R., & Paniccia, R. M. (2002). L’analisi emozionale del testo: Uno strumento psicologico per leggere testi e discorsi [Emotional text analysis: A tool for reading texts and discourses]. Milan, Italy: Franco Angeli.Google Scholar
Clark, M. E. (1990). Meaningful social bonding as a universal human need. In Burton, J. (Ed.), Conflict: Human needs theory (pp. 34–59). London, UK: Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21000-8_3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davenport, N., Distler-Schwartz, R., & Pursell-Elliott, G. (1999). Mobbing: Emotional abuse in the American workplace. Ames, IA: Civil Society Publishing.Google Scholar
de Castro, A. B., Fujishiro, K., Sweitzer, E., & Oliva, J. (2006). How immigrant workers experience workplace problems: A qualitative study. Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health, 61(6), 249–258. https://doi.org/10.3200/aeoh.61.6.249-258CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Wet, C. (2011). The professional lives of teacher victims of workplace bullying: A narrative analysis. Perspectives in Education, 29(4), 66–77.Google Scholar
Duffy, M. (2009). Preventing workplace mobbing and bullying with effective organizational consultation, policies, and legislation. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 61(3), 242–262. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016578CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Einarsen, S. (2000). Harassment and bullying at work: A review of the Scandinavian approach. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 4(5), 379–401. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359-1789(98)00043-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D., & Cooper, C. L. (2011). The concept of bullying and harassment at work: The European tradition. In Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D. & Cooper, C. L. (Eds.), Bullying and harassment in the workplace. Developments in Theory, Research, and Practice (pp. 3–39). London, UK: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Estes, B., & Wang, J. (2008). Workplace incivility: Impacts on individual and organizational performance. Human Resource Development Review, 7(2), 218–240. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534484308315565CrossRefGoogle Scholar
European Institute of Political, Economic and Social Studies (2013). Rapporto Italia 2013 [Report on Italy 2013]. Rome, Italy: EURISPES.Google Scholar
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (2012). Fifth European working conditions survey. Luxembourg City, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.Google Scholar
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (2010). European survey of enterprises on new and emerging risks (ESENER). Managing safety and health at work. European Risk Observatory report. Luxembourg City, Luxembourg: Publication Office of the European Union.Google Scholar
Fattorini, E. (Ed.) (2005). Stress & mobbing. Rome, Italy: ISPESL.Google Scholar
Fornari, F. (1979). Fondamenti di una teoria psicoanalitica del linguaggio [The foundations of psychoanalytic theory of the language]. Torino, Italy: Boringhieri.Google Scholar
Giorgi, G. (2009). Workplace bullying risk assessment in 12 Italian organizations. International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 2(1), 34–47. https://doi.org/10.1108/17538350910945992CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giorgi, G., Arenas, A., & Leon-Perez, J. M. (2011). An operative measure of workplace bullying: The negative acts questionnaire across Italian companies. Industrial Health, 49(6), 686–695. https://doi.org/10.2486/indhealth.MS1287CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giorgi, G., Leon-Perez, J. M., & Arenas, A. (2015). Are bullying behaviors tolerated in some cultures? Evidence for a curvilinear relationship between workplace bullying and job satisfaction among Italian workers. Journal of Business Ethics, 131(1), 227–237. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2266-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giorgi, G., Shoss, M. K., & Leon-Perez, J. M. (2015). Going beyond workplace stressors: Economic crisis and perceived employability in relation to psychological distress and job dissatisfaction. International Journal of Stress Management, 22(2), 137–158. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0038900CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammond, W. P., Gillen, M., & Yen, I. H. (2010). Workplace discrimination and depressive symptoms: A study of multi-ethnic hospital employees. Race and Social Problems, 2(1), 19–30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-010-9024-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hanna, R. C., Weinberg, B., Dant, R. P., & Berger, P. D. (2005). Do Internet-based surveys increase personal self-disclosure? Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 12(4), 342–356. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.dbm.3240270CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearns, D., McCarthy, P., & Sheehan, M. (1997). Organizational restructuring: Considerations for workplace rehabilitation. The Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counseling, 3(1), 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1323892200001587CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langher, V., Brancadoro, B., D’Angeli, M., & Caputo, A. (2014). Imagining future internship in professional psychology: A study on university students’ representations. Universitas Psychologica, 13(4), 1589–1601. https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.UPSY13-4.ifipGoogle Scholar
Leymann, H. (1990). Mobbing and psychological terror at workplaces. Violence and Victims, 5(2), 119–126.Google ScholarPubMed
Masselot, A., Caracciolo di Torella, E., & Burri, S. (2012). Fighting discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy, maternity and parenthood - The application of EU and national law in practice in 33 European countries. Luxembourg City, Luxembourg: European Commission. Retrieved from https://publications.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/f115fb16-787b-41b5-b41a-b407790cf701Google Scholar
Richardson, J. E., & McCord, L. B. (2001). Are workplace bullies sabotaging your ability to compete? Learn to identify and extinguish problem behavior. Graziadio Business Review, 4(4), 1–16. Retrieved from http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2010/08/are-workplace-bullies-sabotaging-your-ability-to-compete/Google Scholar
Mikkelsen, E. G., & Einarsen, S. (2001). Bullying in Danish work-life: Prevalence and health correlates. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 10(4), 393–413. https://doi.org/10.1080/13594320143000816CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nielsen, M. B., Matthiesen, S. B., & Einarsen, S. (2010). The impact of methodological moderators on prevalence rates of workplace bullying. A meta-analysis. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83, 955–979. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317909X481256CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, J. L., Brotheridge, C. M., Blenkinsopp, J., Bowes-Sperry, L., Bozionelos, N., Buzády, Z., ... Nnedumm, A. U. O. (2013). Acceptability of workplace bullying: A comparative study on six continents. Journal of Business Research, 66(3), 374–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.08.018CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, C., & Hoel, H. (1997). A summary review of literature relating to workplace bullying. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 7, 181–191. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1298(199706)7:3<181::AID-CASP416>3.0.CO;2-Y3.0.CO;2-Y>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salin, D. (2001). Prevalence and forms of bullying among business professionals: A comparison of two different strategies for measuring bullying. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 10(4), 425–441. https://doi.org/10.1080/13594320143000771CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuster, B. (1996). Rejection, exclusion, and harassment at work and in schools. European Psychologist, 1(4), 293–317. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040.1.4.293CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shallcross, L. (2003, October). The workplace mobbing syndrome: Response and prevention in the public sector. Paper presented at the Workplace Bullying: A Community Response Conference, Brisbane, Australia. Retrieved from http://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/23095/55114_1.pdfGoogle Scholar
Tomescu, C., & Cace, S. (2010). Study of mobbing and of other forms of discrimination at work in Romania. Bucharest, Romania: Expert Press.Google Scholar
van Heugten, K. (2010). Bullying of social workers: Outcomes of a grounded study into impacts and interventions. British Journal of Social Work, 40, 638–655. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcp003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yaman, E. (2010). Perception of faculty members exposed to mobbing about the organizational culture and climate. Kuram Ve Uygulamada Egitim Bilimleri, 10(1), 567–578.Google Scholar