Vulnerability Factors in the Explanation of Workplace Aggression: The Construction of a Theoretical Framework

Abstract

Although workplace aggression is a well-known problem, research on workplace aggression merely focuses on perpetrators' typologies, and workplace-related victim research remains under-represented. In this article, we theoretically explore possible associations between victims' coping strategies, type-D personality, negative childhood experiences, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder and work-related victimization. Through an intensive literature study and the incorporation of existing theories, under which is the precipitation theory, we develop a theoretical framework of vulnerability factors for experiencing workplace violence. Future directions of this theoretical framework and practical implications of the results after empirically exploring the theoretical pathways are suggested.

Keywords:

• workplace aggression
• coping strategies
• type-D
• childhood experiences
• ADHD
• PTSD
• theoretical framework

Notes

¹ A renewed version of the DSM, DSM V, is expected to be released in May 2012).