Organisational, work group related and personal causes of mobbing/bullying at work.
Abstract
This article investigates the causes of mobbing (bullying) at work. Mobbing is defined as a severe form of social stressors at work. Unlike “normal” social stressors, mobbing is a long lasting, escalated conflict with frequent harassing actions systematically aimed at a target person. It is argued that the organisation, the social system, a certain perpetrator and the victim have to be considered as potential causes of mobbing. Results of two samples of mobbing victims and a control group support this view. It is concluded that one‐sided explanations on the causes of mobbing are likely to be inappropriate and that many cases are characterised by multi‐causality – a common finding in conflict research.
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“They are also more likely to avoid confrontation and to conform to social norms (Leary and Baumeister, 2000), have poorer conflict resolution skills (Zapf, 1999), and are susceptible to manipulation especially from authoritarian figures (Gudjonsson and Sigurdsson, 2003; Aquino and Thau, 2009).”
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- Authors
- Zapf, D.
- Affiliations
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Zapf, Dieter
- ORCID
- Zapf, Dieter
- Venue
- International Journal of Manpower
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 1999-02-01
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 1/2
- Pages
- 70-85
- ISSN
- 0143-7720 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2004414172
- Cited by
- 790
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 52 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 41 · 2016: 40 · 2015: 45 · 2014: 42 · 2013: 40 · 2012: 46
- FWCI
- 42.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Manpower (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Workplace Violence and Bullying
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Keywords
- mobbing, workplace harassment, causes of mobbing, team dynamics, victims and perpetrators, social stressors, workplace conflict
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