Bullying at work: Epidemiological findings in public and private organizations

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of bullying and harassment at work, to identify risk groups and risk organizations, and to investigate who the victims report to be their tormentors. Bullying and harassment are defined as situations where a worker or a supervisor is systematically mistreated and victimized by fellow workers or supervisors through repeated negative acts. However, to be a victim of such bullying one must also feel inferiority in defending oneself in the actual situation. Data from 14 different Norwegian surveys (N = 7986) are presented, encompassing a broad array of organizations and professions. The results show that bullying and harassment at work are widespread problems in Norwegian working life. As many as 8.6% of the respondents had been bullied at work during the previous six months. Organizations with many employees, male-dominated organizations, and industrial organizations had the highest prevalence of victimization. Older workers had a higher risk of victimization than younger workers. Even if men and women do not differ in prevalence of bullying, significantly more men were reported as bullies. Victims reported superiors as bullies as often as they reported colleagues as their tormentor(s).