Quality of Leadership and Workplace Bullying: The Mediating Role of Social Community at Work in a Two-Year Follow-Up Study

Laura Francioli (), Paul Maurice Conway, Åse Marie Hansen, Ann-Louise Holten, Matias Brødsgaard Grynderup, Roger Persson, Eva Gemzøe Mikkelsen, Giovanni Costa and Annie Høgh
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Laura Francioli: University of Copenhagen
Paul Maurice Conway: University of Copenhagen
Åse Marie Hansen: University of Copenhagen
Ann-Louise Holten: University of Copenhagen
Matias Brødsgaard Grynderup: University of Copenhagen
Roger Persson: University of Lund
Eva Gemzøe Mikkelsen: CRECEA
Giovanni Costa: University of Milan
Annie Høgh: University of Copenhagen

Journal of Business Ethics, 2018, vol. 147, issue 4, No 14, 889-899

Abstract: Abstract The theoretical and empirical link between leadership and workplace bullying needs further elaboration. The aim of the study is to examine the relationship between quality of leadership and the occurrence of workplace bullying 2 years later. Furthermore, we aim to examine a possible mechanism from leadership to bullying using social community at work as mediator. Using survey data that were collected at two different points in time (2006–2008) among 1664 workers from 60 Danish workplaces, we examined the total, direct and indirect effects between quality of leadership and workplace bullying. Our results indicate that quality of leadership plays a role in establishing working conditions that lead to workplace bullying. Furthermore, social community at work fully mediates the effect of poor quality of leadership on workplace bullying. This longitudinal study adds to previous cross-sectional studies on the substantial role played by leaders in the bullying process. Within the leadership–bullying relationship, social community at work acts as a full mediator, adding a significant contribution to the discussion of mechanisms involved in the bullying process. Plausible explanations of this mechanism and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: Workplace bullying; Quality of leadership; Social community at work (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2996-3

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