The purpose of the proposed study is to consider why and under which conditions do supervisors engage in abusive behaviours towards their subordinates. To answer my first research question, why do supervisors engage in abusive supervision, I draw on victim precipitation (e.g., Sparks, Glenn, & Dodd, 1977) and conservation of resources (COR; Hobfoll, 1989) theories to argue that certain subordinate performance-related behaviours and characteristics threaten supervisor resources leading to abuse as a stress reaction. To answer my second research question, under which conditions do supervisors engage in abusive supervision, I draw on attribution theory (Heider, 1958; Weiner, 1986). I argue that supervisors abuse subordinates when they attribute responsibility, or blame subordinates for negative performance-related behaviours and characteristics, as a means of protecting or guarding against future resource loss. To answer my research questions, I developed measures for self- and other-perceived general mental ability (GMA) and blame attributions. I obtained data from 211 supervisor-subordinate dyads in Canada and the United States. Respondents were surveyed for information about their work behaviours, characteristics, and relationships. Using Hayes (2013) PROCESS macros, I found partial support for the proposed model and offer refinements to COR and victim precipitation theories. I found relationships between both self- and supervisor-reported subordinate behaviours and characteristics and abusive supervision, largely in the direction hypothesized. I also found supervisor-reported subordinate performance behaviours and perceived GMA to share a stronger relationship with subordinate reports of abusive supervision than subordinate reported behaviours and characteristics in many instances. / October 2016

The examination of Workplace Aggression as a global construct conceptualization has gained considerable attention over the past few years as organizations work to better understand and address the occurrence and consequences of this challenging construct. The purpose of this dissertation is to build on previous efforts to validate the appropriateness and usefulness of a global conceptualization of the workplace aggression construct. This dissertation has been broken up into two parts: Part 1 utilized a Confirmatory Factor Analysis approach in order to assess the existence of workplace aggression as a global construct; Part 2 utilized a series of correlational analyses to examine the relationship between a selection of commonly experienced individual strain based outcomes and the global construct conceptualization assessed in Part 1. Participants were a diverse sample of 219 working individuals from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk participant pool. Results of Part 1 did not show support for a one-factor global construct conceptualization of the workplace aggression construct. However, support was shown for a higher-order five-factor model of the construct, suggesting that it may be possible to conceptualize workplace aggression as an overarching construct that is made up of separate workplace aggression constructs. Results of Part 2 showed support for the relationships between an existing global construct workplace aggression conceptualization and a series of strain-based outcomes. Utilizing correlational analyses, additional post-hoc analyses showed that individual factors such as emotional intelligence and personality are related to the experience of workplace aggression. Further, utilizing moderated regression analysis, the results demonstrated that individuals experiencing high levels of workplace aggression reported higher job satisfaction when they felt strongly that the aggressive act was highly visible, and similarly, when they felt that there was a clear intent to cause harm. Overall, the findings of this dissertation do support the need for a simplification of its current state of measurement. Future research should continue to examine workplace aggression in an effort to shed additional light on the structure and usefulness of this complex construct.

The examination of Workplace Aggression as a global construct conceptualization has gained considerable attention over the past few years as organizations work to better understand and address the occurrence and consequences of this challenging construct. The purpose of this dissertation is to build on previous efforts to validate the appropriateness and usefulness of a global conceptualization of the workplace aggression construct. This dissertation has been broken up into two parts: Part 1 utilized a Confirmatory Factor Analysis approach in order to assess the existence of workplace aggression as a global construct; Part 2 utilized a series of correlational analyses to examine the relationship between a selection of commonly experienced individual strain based outcomes and the global construct conceptualization assessed in Part 1. Participants were a diverse sample of 219 working individuals from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk participant pool. Results of Part 1 did not show support for a one-factor global construct conceptualization of the workplace aggression construct. However, support was shown for a higher-order five-factor model of the construct, suggesting that it may be possible to conceptualize workplace aggression as an overarching construct that is made up of separate workplace aggression constructs. Results of Part 2 showed support for the relationships between an existing global construct workplace aggression conceptualization and a series of strain-based outcomes. Utilizing correlational analyses, additional post-hoc analyses showed that individual factors such as emotional intelligence and personality are related to the experience of workplace aggression. Further, utilizing moderated regression analysis, the results demonstrated that individuals experiencing high levels of workplace aggression reported higher job satisfaction when they felt strongly that the aggressive act was highly visible, and similarly, when they felt that there was a clear intent to cause harm. Overall, the findings of this dissertation do support the need for a simplification of its current state of measurement. Future research should continue to examine workplace aggression in an effort to shed additional light on the structure and usefulness of this complex construct.

This dissertation aims to advance our understanding of workplace aggression by developing and testing two models based on the stereotype content model (SCM) and adopting the social network analysis approach. Specifically, two studies of the dissertation focus on (a) unfavorable social evaluations stemming from competence stereotypes, (b) stereotype-driven negative emotions as a mechanism to explain the relationship between competence and workplace aggression, and (c) the role of informal workplace relationships in predicting workplace aggression. Study one investigates the nonlinear relationship between job performance and exposure to workplace aggression and two distinct mediating mechanisms at high and low levels of job performance. High performers provoke jealousy, and low performers provoke contempt from coworkers, both of which are positively associated with exposure to workplace psychological aggression. The study tested these relations using data from a sample of 187 teachers from educational institutions in India and found support for the curvilinear relationship between performance and workplace psychological aggression and the mediating mechanisms of jealousy and contempt for high and low performers, respectively. Study two examines the role of workplace social ties (advice and friendship ties) in predicting workplace aggression. Results from data collected at 2-time points from 248 individuals in 21 workgroups largely supported the proposition that highly competent employees become victims of covert aggression and low competence employees become victims of overt aggression. Interestingly, the findings suggest that advice-giving and friendship ties mitigate the experience of aggression by reducing coworkers’ envy. However, advice-seeking aggravates overt aggression by increasing coworkers’ contempt. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This dissertation explores the lived experiences of workers who are involuntarily socially isolated in their work-places through the actions of one or more colleagues. This hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry is called by the question, "What is the lived experience of other-imposed social isolation in the work-place?" This study also explores the ways these targeted workers are lost and forgotten, by themselves and others, for the periods of time they remain in their socially isolating work-places. The tradition of hermeneutic phenomenology grounds this inquiry, guided primarily by the works of Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Martin Buber, and to lesser and varying degrees by David Abram, Hans-George Gadamer, Edmond Husserl, David Michael Levin, Emmanual Levinas, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Max van Manen's six methodological guidelines serve as the framework for the research activities that comprise this study. From conversations with, and written reflections from, eight work-place professionals, this study reveals what it is like to experience other-imposed, work-place social isolation. Through hermeneutic phenomenological exploration, the stories of these eight workers reveal lived experience along three primary themes. First, other-imposed social isolation is abusive power and control that is comprised of shameful, indecent acts. Second, the targets of involuntary social isolation experience relentless, wounding trauma. Third, while remaining in their socially isolating work-places, and sometimes for years after leaving, targeted workers bear the burdened weight of crushing grief. The study suggests a need to expose antiquated, yet accepted, work-place mores, that serve as unconscious barriers to work-place respect and dignity. Further, the study reveals that conscious, and conscientious, awareness and attention to abusive work-place social isolation are the responsibility of each and every work-place citizen. Finally, the study recommends meaningful citizen choices -- such as refusing silence; standing alone, if necessary; and inviting work-place community attention -- to engage with others where workers' truths and dignity are at stake. / Ph. D.

Relational aggression (RA) is a social phenomenon that can severely impact organizational profitability and employee productivity. A gap in the literature exists concerning appropriate interventions to manage RA. The purpose of this study was to explore successful interventions that have been used to manage RA. The theoretical framework was informed by psychological contract theory. Data were collected via semistructured face-to-face interviews with 12 victims, and then analyzed using data management, reading and memorization, description, classification, interpretation, and representation. NVivo software was used to organize the data in this study. The research consisted of 3 subquestions addressing the role of written policies in interventions, common practices and reactions of management, and victims' requests for attention to grievance reports. Five key themes emerged. The first and second pertain to the proactive and reactive role of written policies. The third and fourth focus on management's negative and positive reactions in response to grievance reports. The fifth identifies victims' expectations for their grievance reports. Commonly found interventions include impartially listening to both sides, investigation, restoration of damages, social justice, and identifying root causes for RA in the workplace. Implications for positive social change include enhanced employee well-being and performance and increased organizational effectiveness. Results may lead to positive changes by providing useful information that can be implemented by organizations to prevent and address RA, which can improve employee well-being.

Using a 471-case nursing sample, the current study examined the direct and indirect relationships between workplace aggression (including physical and psychological) against nurses and their health and safety consequences. Specifically, physical and psychological aggression nurses experienced were related to their job dissatisfaction, turnover intention, physical symptoms, injuries and exposure to contagious disease directly and/or indirectly through their emotional strain (irritation, anxiety, and depression). In addition, my findings demonstrated that stronger violence prevention climate (i.e., good prevention practices/response and low pressure for unsafe practices) was related to less frequent violence and psychological aggression incidents nurses experienced. Also, my results indicated significant moderating effect of organizational violence prevention practices/response (one dimension of violence prevention climate) in the relationships of nurses' physical and psychological aggression with their anxiety and depression, such that nurses who perceived stronger (vs. weaker) violence prevention climate seemed to be more (vs. less) anxious about or depressed by aggression incidents that occurred to them. However, overall nurses who perceived stronger violence prevention climate felt less anxious and depressed at work than those who perceived weaker climate. Finally, regarding the role of social burden, there was evidence from this study supporting its positive relationship with nurses' perceived irritation, anxiety, and depression although there did not seem to be evidence supporting its moderating role between nurses' aggression experience and their emotional strain. In summary, emotional strain seemed to be a relatively consistent mediator between nurses' aggression experiences and their health or safety consequences, and nurses' perceived social context (violence prevention climate and social burden) did significantly and directly relate to their health and safety consequences, but more research is warranted before we conclude about their potential moderating role in the aggression-consequence relationships.

Research has established that workplace aggression leads to a multitude of negative outcomes for individuals and organizations. This study aimed to determine if certain coping strategies could assuage the negative impact of workplace aggression on two outcomes: job satisfaction and psychological well-being. A study of nurses explored their experiences with being the target of verbal, passive, and physical workplace aggression, their job satisfaction, psychological well-being, and their coping strategies. Results indicate that coping style does indeed moderate the relationship between being the target of workplace aggression and negative outcomes. Implications for the workplace are discussed.

Thesis (MComm (Industrial Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aims of this study were to explore the relationships between narcissism, workplace aggression (WA) and emotional intelligence (EI), as well as to determine whether EI plays a moderating role in the relationship between narcissism and WA. A non-experimental research design (i.e. exploratory survey study) was used to explore the relationships between the three constructs. Narcissists are described as individuals who have a grandiose sense of self-importance or uniqueness, where they exaggerate their special talents and achievements. They are typically prone to rage, shame, inferiority, and humiliation when they are criticized by others (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). WA was defined as the efforts by individuals to harm others with whom they work, or have worked, or the organisations in which they are currently or were previously, employed (Neuman & Baron, 1997a). EI was defined as the capacity to effectively perceive, express, understand and manage emotions in a professional and effective manner at work (Palmer & Stough, 2001). A convenience sample of 134 academic (permanent and temporary) and support staff (middle and upper level) of two tertiary educational institutions within the Western Cape participated in the research. The Greenberg and Barling (1999) WA scale (that measures aggression towards colleagues, subordinates and supervisors), the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI, Raskin & Hall, 1979) and the Genos Emotional Intelligence Inventory (Gignac, 2008) were administered. Weak significant negative relationships were evident between EI and each of the dimensions of WA. This indicates that higher EI is associated with a decreased propensity to engage in verbal aggressive behaviours. EI may enable individuals to apply better coping mechanisms and display more appropriate emotional reactions to events which may induce aggressive behavior. It was, furthermore, hypothesized that a significant negative relationship exists between EI and narcissism. Contrary to the expectation, a significant weak positive relationship emerged between the NPI and EI. It was also found that significant positive relationships emerged between six of the seven dimensions of EI and narcissism. The findings may indicate that individuals with a fragile high self-esteem (overt narcissists) may also be 'emotionally intelligent'. Individuals with high levels of narcissism may use emotional regulation strategies to manage their own and other's emotions in order to maintain their fragile self esteem. No significant relationship emerged between the NPI (total score) and any of the aggression subscales. This result may be due to methodological limitations (e.g. restriction of range) or the absence of an ego-threat eliciting cue in the questionnaire, which may have attenuated the results. However, two significant positive relationships emerged between the NPI dimensions of Entitlement and Exploitiveness with the Verbal Aggression towards a colleague subscale. Due to the fact that no significant relationship between narcissism (total score) and WA emerged in this study, the proposed hypo that EI moderates the relationship between narcissism and WA, could not be investigated. The limitations of the study and recommendations for future research were discussed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doelwitte van hierdie studie was om die verband tussen narsisme, werksplekaggressie (WA) en emosionele intelligensie (EI) te ondersoek, asook om te bepaal of EI 'n modererende rol speel in die verband tussen narsisme en WA. 'n Nie-eksperimentele navorsingsontwerp (dit is, 'n verkennende studie) is gebruik om die verbande tussen die drie konstrukte te ondersoek. Narsiste word beskryf as individue wat .n grootse gevoel van eiebelang of uniekheid het. Hulle oordryf hulle spesiale talente en prestasies. Wanneer ander hulle kritiseer, sal hulle gewoonlik geneig wees om woedend te word en skaam, minderwaardig of verneder te voel (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). WA word gedefinieer as die pogings van individue om die mense saam met wie hulle werk, of gewerk het, of die organisasie waar hulle tans werk, of voorheen gewerk het, skade aan te doen (Neuman & Baron, 1997a). EI word gedefinieer as die vermoe om emosies op 'n professionele en doeltreffende manier in die werkplek waar te neem, uit te druk, te verstaan en te beheer (Palmer & Stough, 2001). 'n Geriefsteekproef van 134 (permanente en tydelike) akademiese personeel en (middel- en bovlak-) steundienstepersoneel van twee tersiere opvoedkundige instellings in die Wes-Kaap het aan die navorsingsprojek deelgeneem. Greenberg en Barling (1999) se WA-skaal (wat aggressie teenoor kollegas, ondergeskiktes en toesighouers meet), die Narsistiesepersoonlikheid-inventaris (NPI, Raskin & Hall, 1979) en die Genos Emosionele-intelligensie-inventaris (Gignac, 2008) is gebruik. Beduidende swak negatiewe verwantskappe tussen EI en elk van die dimensies van WA is gevind. Dit dui daarop dat 'n hoer EI geassosieer word met 'n afname in die neiging om in verbale aggressiewe gedrag betrokke te raak. EI kan individue in staat stel om beter hanteringsmeganismes te gebruik en meer gepaste emosionele reaksies te toon op gebeure wat tot aggressiewe gedrag kan lei. Daar is in die studie aangevoer dat 'n betekenisvolle negatiewe verband tussen EI en narsisme bestaan. Teen alle verwagting is'n betekenisvolle swak positiewe verband tussen die NPI en EI na vore gekom. Daar is ook bevind dat daar betekenisvolle positiewe verbande tussen ses van die sewe dimensies van EI en narsisme bestaan het. Die bevindings kan daarop dui dat individue met 'n brose hoe selfbeeld (openlik narsistiese individue) ook 'emosioneel intelligent' kan wees. Individue met 'n hoe mate van narsisme kan emosionele beheerstrategiee gebruik om hulle eie en ander se emosies te beheer om so hulle brose selfbeeld te handhaaf. Geen betekenisvolle verband tussen die NPI (totaal telling) en enige van die aggressie-subskale het na vore gekom nie. Hierdie bevinding kan dalk toegeskryf word aan metodologiese beperkings (soos beperkte omvang) of die afwesigheid van 'n stelling in die vraelys wat bedreiging vir die ego ingehou en die uitkoms kon verswak het. Twee betekenisvolle positiewe verbande is egter gevind tussen die NPI-dimensies Aanspraak en Uitbuiting en die subskaal Verbale Aggressie teenoor 'n kollega. Weens die feit dat geen noemenswaardige verhouding tussen narsisme (totale punt) en WA in hierdie studie gevind is nie, kon die voorgestelde hipotese dat EI die verband tussen narsisme en WA modereer nie ondersoek word nie. Die beperkings van die studie en aanbevelings vir toekomstige navorsing word bespreek.

This dissertation addresses both the terminological diversity problem raised in the workplace aggression literature and the mechanism by which workplace aggression may impact job performance in a series of studies. In addressing the first question, the factor structure of incivility, interpersonal conflict, bullying, abusive supervision, and social undermining was investigated using a single factor model and a second order model. . Data was collected across two studies consisting of samples of 410 students and 247 working adults, respectively. The results indicated relatively better fit for the second order model, showing all of the workplace aggression constructs items loading on their original construct. The unique variance contributed by workplace aggression constructs was also tested in study two using self-rated performance ratings and the experience of flow-states. The results indicated that there were no tangible differences in the variance explained between the five aggression construct. Together, these findings suggest that there is a terminological diversity problem in the workplace aggression literature as each construct may be tapping into the same latent workplace aggression variable. Further, the indirect effect of workplace aggression through the experience of flow states was supported using multi-wave data. This dissertation highlight the current state of the literature, supporting our understanding that the experience of workplace aggression is both detrimental to work related performance and impacts the mechanisms individuals use in engaging with the world around them.