A purposeful approach for implementing preventive measures among European teaching professionals: bullying, deteriorated organizational factors and the mediating role of job dissatisfaction in poor health perception

Abstract

This research aims at examining how workplace bullying, a collection of predominant organizational factors and job dissatisfaction may both directly and indirectly influence the emergence of negative health perception among teaching professionals in occupational settings. The method utilized for testing the research hypotheses is based on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), which enables the simultaneous assessment of construct measurement and the estimation of hypothesized relationships. A sample population of 2328 European educators has been employed to reach research objectives. Results suggest that negative health perception escalates when there is a direct conditioned correlation between this factor and either bullying or certain working conditions, while indirect effects are unveiled when dissatisfaction is added to the research framework as mediating construct. From a theoretical perspective, this work contributes to human resource management research on the subject of detection and prevention of those underlying organizational constituents that might potentially undermine occupational health. From a utilitarian perspective, the findings of this research encapsulate promising implications not only for teaching professionals but also for educational institutions that pursue the continual improvement of health and performance in their educators through human resource management.

Keywords:

• Health perception
• teaching professionals
• workplace bullying
• organizational factors
• job dissatisfaction
• PLS-SEM

Acknowledgements

We’d like to thank the Universidad de Córdoba and the Universidad Loyola Andalucía for providing research funding for the accomplishment of the present paper and the international stay of Professor Noel M. Muniz at ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Portugal). We are highly grateful as well to professor Jose María Leon-Perez at ISCTE for his invaluable advice and guidance; and to the professors and administrative staff of the Business Research Unit (BRU) for its advice and warm hospitality during Professor Muniz’s stay.