Workplace aggression and organisational effectiveness: The mediating role of employee engagement

Anya Johnson, Helena Nguyen, Markus Groth and Les White
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Anya Johnson: Work and Organisational Studies, The University of Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Helena Nguyen: Work and Organisational Studies, The University of Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Markus Groth: Business School, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Les White: School of Women’s and Children’s Health, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Australian Institute for Health Innovation, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia

Australian Journal of Management, 2018, vol. 43, issue 4, 614-631

Abstract: We investigate the relationship between the prevalence of workplace aggression and two key outcomes: employee engagement and organisational effectiveness. Drawing on social capital theory, we propose that the level of employee engagement within the organisation helps explain the association between workplace aggression and organisational effectiveness. We used secondary survey data and an important indicator of organisational effectiveness in the healthcare sector (i.e. rates of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs)) from 101 hospitals in NSW, Australia. We found that hospitals with higher rates of workplace aggression had higher rates of patients with HAIs and that employee engagement was an important mechanism that helped explain this effect. These findings underscore the potential benefits of management policies and practices that are aimed at preventing workplace aggression and support greater employee engagement. JEL Classification: L120

Keywords: Employee engagement; organisational effectiveness; social capital theory; workplace aggression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ausman:v:43:y:2018:i:4:p:614-631

DOI: 10.1177/0312896218768378

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