Zheng Lu: Workplace Bullying under Power Perspective: An Empirical Analysis Based on CGSS2015 Data
Workplace Bullying under Power Perspective: An Empirical Analysis Based on CGSS2015 Data
Sociological Studies, 2022 Issue 5
[Abstract]
Workplace bullying exerts negative impacts on victims, organizations and the society as a whole. Nevertheless, there has been neither a systematic analytic framework in the literature nor any adequate quantitative analysis in the Chinese context. This research adopts a mixed method approach combining qualitative and quantitative analysis. Based on CGSS2015 data and in-depth interviews, we propose a three-dimensional analytical framework of "power" in explaining the likelihood of workplace bullying. We find that the level of personal "dependence" reflected by the importance of income to the victims, the extent to which "coerciveness" of power can be restricted by internal procedures and norms of organizations, and the degree of "substitutability" of current job proffered by external market resources jointly affect the occurrence of workplace bullying. Theoretical contributions and policy implications are discussed in the end.
