Abstract
Role stress, broadly understood as adverse stress reactions employees have when they experience excessive demands or pressure from others’ expectations and demands at work, is widely believed to contribute to workplace bullying through social aggression mechanisms that impel employees to act aggressively towards other organizational members. In this chapter, we review emerging evidence examining a contrary direction of influence in which exposure to repeated hostile and offensive actions in turn exacerbates role stressors, such as unclear job requirements or conflicting role expectations. To do so, we first consider general aspects of research design and methodology in empirically evaluating propositions of bidirectional relationships between role stressors and workplace bullying. We then consider areas that require further analysis as well as directions for future research on reciprocal effects involving workplace bullying and role stress. The chapter relies on the extant literature, primarily from Europe, on the topic.
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Harlos, K., Holmvall, C.M. (2018). Reciprocal Influences Involving Workplace Bullying: The Case of Role Stressors. In: D'Cruz, P., et al. Pathways of Job-related Negative Behaviour. Handbooks of Workplace Bullying, Emotional Abuse and Harassment, vol 2. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6173-8_2-1
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