Workplace bullying, the development of job insecurity and the role of laissez-faire leadership: A two-wave moderated mediation study

ABSTRACT

Workplace bullying is increasingly recognised as a risk factor for job loss and exclusion from working life. Consequently, bullying may represent an antecedent of job insecurity, but this notion has not been sufficiently tested using prospective, representative data. In the present study, the association between workplace bullying and job insecurity was therefore investigated using a two-year time lag and a representative sample of Norwegian employees (N = 1775). Employing regression analysis, support for a cross-lagged effect of bullying on stability adjusted job insecurity was found. With respect to explanatory mechanisms, a moderated mediation analysis also revealed that this relationship is mediated by continued exposure to bullying behaviours at T2, and, that the relationship between baseline bullying and continued victimisation at T2 is moderated by laissez-faire leadership (i.e. the enactment of passive-avoidant and non-responsive leadership behaviour). Thus, laissez-faire leadership appears to represent a condition under which the bullying process can endure and progress, and the bullying behaviours associated with such sustained and escalated scenarios seem to be particularly relevant antecedents of job insecurity. These results represent novel contributions to our understanding of workplace bullying and job insecurity, holding important implications for prevention of workplace bullying and alleviation of its negative consequences.

KEYWORDS:

• Workplace bullying
• harassment
• aggression
• job insecurity
• laissez-faire leadership
• longitudinal

Acknowledgements

The present study is a result of a collaborative project between the University of Bergen and Statistics Norway, the latter having been in charge of the data collection. Thanks to Bengt Oscar Lagerstrøm, Aina Holmøy and Maria Høstmark of Statistics Norway, to Stig Berge Matthiesen at the Norwegian Business School (BI) and the Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, for contributing with the data collection, and to Morten Birkeland Nielsen at the National Institute of Occupational Health (STAMI) and the Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen for helpful comments on the manuscript and for his contribution with the data collection.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This paper is supported by the Norwegian Research Council – NFR [grant number 250127].