Cyberbullying at work: an extension of traditional bullying or a new threat?

• Date: 11 May 2023
• Pages: 173-187
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-07-2022-0106
• Published date: 11 May 2023
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Healthcare management,HR & organizational behaviour,Human resource policy,Employee welfare
• Author: Jordan Platts,Iain Coyne,Samuel Farley

Cyberbullying at work:

an extension of traditional bullying

or a new threat?

Jordan Platts and Iain Coyne

Loughborough Business School, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK, and

Samuel Farley

The University of Sheffield Management School, Sheffield, UK

Abstract

Purpose –Research comparing offline and cyberbullying is relatively sparse, with scholars suggesting the

need for empirical investigations to clarify whether cyberbullying and offline bullying are similar or different

constructs.

Design/methodology/approach –Using an experimental vignette methodology, the current study of 163

working participants obtained via social media examines the effect of medium (offline vs cyberbullying), type

(person-related vs work-related) and the interaction between medium and type on perceptions of definitional

criteria (severity, frequency, power and intent) and outcomes (negative emotion, fairness, job satisfaction and

turnover intention).

Findings –Significant differences between offline and cyberbullyingwere seen only for ratings of severity,

job satisfaction a nd turnover intention, with cy berbullying perceived as mor e severe and as having a more

detrimental impact on job satisfaction and turnover intention. Stronger effect sizes emerged for type of

bullying, with person-related bullying having a stronger negative impact on definitional criteria and

outcomes than work-related bullying. Moreover, interaction effects suggested differences between the two

media were dependent on type of act –with person-related/cyberbullying acts seen more negatively than

other acts.

Originality/value –This paper is the first to use a vignette approach to test the similarity or difference

hypothesis between offline and cyberbullying. Overall, limited support is seen for the notion that offline

bullying and cyberbullying are perceived as different constructs, with type of behaviour suggesting a

more complex relationship between the two.

Keywords Workplace bullying, Cyberbullying, Power, Fairness, Job satisfaction

Paper type Research paper

Traditional (offline) workplace bullying, defined as “situations where an employee repeatedly

and over a prolonged time period is exposed to harassing behavior from one or more

colleagues (including subordinates and leaders) and where the targeted person is unable to

defend him/herself against this systematic mistreatment”(Nielsen and Einarsen, 2018, p. 73),

has an extensive evidence base across several work settings, with meta-analyses of exposure

to bullying reporting target rates of 15–16% (Dhanani et al., 2021;Nielsen et al., 2010). By

contrast, cyberbullying is defined as “all negative behavior stemming from the work context

and occurring through the use of ICTs, which is either (1) carried out repeatedly and over a

period of time or (2) conducted at least once but forms an intrusion into someone’s private life,

(potentially) exposing it to a wide online audience. This behavior leaves the target feeling

helpless and unable to defend”(Vranjes et al., 2017, p. 326). Cyberbullying has only recently

been studied systematically in the workplace (Celuch et al., 2022;Coyne et al., 2017;Choi and

Park, 2019;Forssell, 2019), with prevalence rates ranging between 2.8% and 26% (Baruch,

2005;Forssell, 2016;Gardner et al., 2016;Privitera and Campbell, 2009). Given the findings

that indicate 1 in 10 employees experienced their latest harassment episode over email or

social media (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD, 2020), research on

cyberbullying needs to advance.

Cyberbullying

at work

173

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

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Received 27 July 2022

Revised 24 January 2023

Accepted 6 March 2023

InternationalJournal of Workplace

Health Management

Vol. 16 No. 2/3, 2023

pp. 173-187

© Emerald Publishing Limited

1753-8351

DOI 10.1108/IJWHM-07-2022-0106