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Bullying the Boss: The Prevalence of Upward Bullying Behaviours

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2012

Belinda Wallace ,
Lucy Johnston  and
Linda Trenberth
Belinda Wallace
Affiliation:
University of Canterbury, United Kingdom.
Lucy Johnston*
Affiliation:
University of Canterbury, United Kingdom. [email protected]
Linda Trenberth
Affiliation:
Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom.
*
* Address for Correspondence: Professor Lucy Johnston, Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8410, New Zealand.
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Abstract

The present study investigated the prevalence of upwards bullying — that is, subordinate-initiated bullying of their supervisor — in two sample groups. Subordinates (n = 491) in this study were either thesis students working under the supervision of an academic advisor or were employees working under a primary supervisor in a variety of occupations. Participants completed a measure of bullying behaviours, the Negative Acts Questionnaire, as part of an online survey. Although the overall prevalence of bullies was low (1.7%), there was a high incidence of bullying behaviour with 70.6% of the sample reporting having engaged in bullying behaviours toward their supervisor in the preceding 6 month period. The incidence of bullying behaviours was lower for the students than for the employees and lower for females than for males. Implications for workplaces are considered.

Keywords

bullyingsubordinatesupervisor
Type
Articles
Information
The Australasian Journal of Organisational Psychology , Volume 3 , 01 April 2010 , pp. 66 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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