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The Measurement and Impact of Workplace Cyberbullying Samuel Farley Institute of Work Psychology Sheffield University Managemen

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The Measurement and Impact of Workplace Cyberbullying Samuel Farley Institute of Work Psychology Sheffield University Managemen The Measurement and Impact of Workplace Cyberbullying Samuel Farley Institute of Work Psychology Sheffield University Management School University of Sheffield Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2015 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisors Carolyn Axtell, Christine Sprigg and Iain Coyne for the constant support they have given me over the past three years. They have answered my daily email bombardments with saint-like patience and have been enormously generous with their encouragement. I must also acknowledge staff within Sheffield University Management School for the time and advice they have given me, and I owe huge thanks to the Management School for funding this Ph.D. The past few years would not have been the same without my office mates Liam Goucher, Rob Marchand and Peter Crellin. The enduring memories from this Ph.D will centre around life in B03, including the coffee breaks, Sainsbury’s trips and most of all the arguments. I am especially grateful to Liam and Debs for letting me stay over so often, even though you were quite rude about my washing-up skills. I would also like to thank my fellow Ph.D. students at the doctoral centre for all the good times. If we ever go to the Lake District again I promise to take you on a regular walk and not a nine hour hike. There are numerous friends and family members who have helped me along this journey. Most importantly I would like to thank my Mum and Dad who have supported me through countless years of university (in return I’ll not to make you read this) and both Robbie and Josh for being around on Sky Sports Super Sundays. Finally, I would like to thank Kim for being a source of empathy and love, and for keeping me going when it was tough. Publications and Presentations Arising from this Thesis Journal articles and practitioner publications Farley, S., Coyne, I., Axtell, C., & Sprigg, C. (in review). Design, development and validation of the workplace cyberbullying measure (WCM). Work & Stress. Farley, S., Sprigg, C.A., Axtell, C.M. & Coyne, I. (2013). The Web of Bullying. Safety Management, August 2013. Conference and other presentations Farley, S., Sprigg, C., Axtell, C. & Coyne, I. How do attributions of blame affect outcomes of workplace cyberbullying. Sustaining Employee Well-being in the 21st Century: The Dark Side of Employee Wellbeing Seminar, 29th May, 2015. Sheffield, United Kingdom. Farley, S. Cyberbullying @ Work: Limiting the Risks to Employees. Health and Wellbeing at Work Conference, 3-4 March, 2015. Birmingham, United Kingdom. Farley, S., Axtell, C.M., Sprigg, C.A., Coyne, I. & Subramanian, G. Workplace Cyberbullying: Who is to Blame? The Institute of Work Psychology International Conference, 24-26 June, 2014. Sheffield, United Kingdom. Farley, S. Cyberbullying @ Work: A modern management challenge. The University of South Australia International PhD Student Competition, 11-13 November, 2013. Adelaide, Australia. Farley, S., Axtell, C.M., Sprigg, C.A. & Coyne, I. Developing a workplace cyberbullying measure. The South East European Research Centre Annual Doctoral Conference, 16-17 September, 2013. Thessaloniki, Greece. Abstract This thesis investigates workplace cyberbullying, defined as a situation where over time, an individual is repeatedly subjected to perceived negative acts conducted through technology (for example, phone, email, web sites, social media) which are related to their work context. In this situation the target of workplace cyberbullying has difficulty defending him or herself against these actions. The thesis has two broad aims: (1) to develop a workplace cyberbullying measurement scale; and (2) to investigate the impact of workplace cyberbullying on employees. Workplace cyberbullying is conceptualised in this thesis by drawing on the traditional workplace bullying and cyberbullying literature. A rationale is presented for investigating it as a distinct form of workplace bullying and four separate studies address the development of the workplace cyberbullying measure (WCM). The first study generated measurement items by asking employees to describe cyberbullying behaviours. The behaviours were sorted into categories using content analysis and converted into measurement items. In the second study, the relative severity of each item was assessed so that the measure could be weighted according to severity. In the third study, the 34 item WCM was completed by a sample of 424 employees. A two factor structure (comprising work-related cyberbullying and person-related cyberbullying) was compared to a unidimensional factor structure and the measure was refined into a 17 item instrument. During the fourth study the nomological network of the WCM was constructed and further reliability and validity evidence was obtained. The fifth and final study then used the WCM to investigate the impact of workplace cyberbullying within a theoretical framework. The theoretical and practical contributions of the studies are discussed along with directions for future research. List of Tables Table 2.1 Taxonomy of workplace bullying strategies 28 Table 2.2 Distinguishing features of cyberbullying 53 Table 5.1 Categories of workplace cyberbullying behavioural descriptions 112 Table 5.2 Mean face validity rating and item retention decision 123 Table 5.3 Workplace cyberbullying items and global definition item 127 Table 6.1 Cyberbullying items by overall severity rating 142 Table 7.1 Items removed due to correlated item totals below .4 154 Table 7.2 Principal axis factor analysis: pattern coefficients 156 Table 7.3 Items removed due to low factor loadings 162 Table 7.4 Items removed after inspection of modification indices 164 Table 7.5 CFA using MLM estimation: Items, factor loadings and 165 correlations between workplace cyberbullying factors Table 8.1 Correlations among the study variables 187 Table 8.2 Hierarchical regression analyses for the effect of offline bullying 190 and cyberbullying on emotional exhaustion and interactional justice Table 8.3 Hierarchical regression analyses for the effect of cyberaggression 191 and cyberbullying on emotional exhaustion and interactional justice Table 8.4 Hierarchical regression analyses for the effect of offline bullying, 193 cyberaggression and cyberbullying on emotional exhaustion Table 8.5 Hierarchical regression analyses for the effect of offline bullying, 195 cyberaggression and cyberbullying on interactional justice Table 8.6 Hierarchical regression analyses for the effect of offline bullying, 196 cyberaggression, work-related cyberbullying and person-related cyberbullying on emotional exhaustion Table 8.7 Hierarchical regression analyses for the effect of offline bullying, 198 cyberaggression, work-related cyberbullying and person-related cyberbullying on interactional justice Table 9.1 Means, standard deviations and correlations of Study 5 variables 231 Table 9.2 Tests of indirect effects for the paths between cyberbullying 233 exposure and outcomes List of Figures Figure 1.1 Overview of the studies conducted within the thesis 9 Figure 4.1 Diagram of Hinkin’s (1998) measure development process 91 Figure 5.1 Percentage of the sample that used email, telephone, text 109 messages, social media websites, video conferencing & instant messaging for work purposes Figure 9.1 Hypothesised model 223 List of Abbreviations AVE Average Variance Extracted BPS British Psychological Society BRAT Bullying Risk Assessment Tool CFA Confirmatory Factor Analysis CFI Comparative Fit Index CIT Critical Incident Technique CMC Computer-Mediated Communication CMV Common Method Variance DWLS Diagonally Weighted Least Squares EFA Exploratory Factor Analysis FIML Full Information Maximum Likelihood Estimation HR Human Resources HRP Human Resources Professional ICT Information and Communication Technology IPA Interpretative Phenomological Analysis KMO Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin LC Latent Class Cluster LCI Lower Confidence Interval LIPT Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror LMX Leader Member Exchange MLFA Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis NAQ Negative Acts Questionnaire NHS National Health Service ONS Office for National Statistics PAF Principal Axis Factoring PCA Principal Components Analysis PE Point Estimate RMSEA Root-Mean-Square Error of Approximation SD Standard Deviation SME Subject Matter Expert SRMR Standardised Root-Mean-Square Residual UCI Upper Confidence Interval VIF Variance Inflation Factor WCM Workplace Cyberbullying Measure WLS Weighted Least Squares Table of Contents Chapter 1 – Overview of Thesis 1 Research Aims 4 Thesis Structure 4 Chapter 2 – Positioning Workplace Cyberbullying 10 The Development of Workplace Bullying Research 11 Traditional Workplace Bullying 18 Traditional Workplace Bullying Behaviours 25 Theories of Computer Mediated Communication 31 Conceptualising Cyberbullying 38 Cyberbullying Behaviours 46 Unique Characteristics of Cyberbullying 51 Theoretical Distinction 56 Cyber Incivility 56 Cyberaggression 58 Summary 59 Chapter 3 – Review of Measurement Methods in Bullying Research 61 Measuring Exposure to Bullying 61 Inside Methods of Measuring Bullying 64 Survey Methods in Bullying Research 68 The Rationale for Measure Development 76 Chapter 4 – Presentation of the Thesis Methodology 85 Measure Development Methodology 85 Integration of the Measure Development Methodology 91 within the Thesis Procedure 93 Epistemological Assumptions 93 Ethical Considerations 96 Summary 98 Chapter 5- The Generation of Workplace Cyberbullying Items (Study 1) 99 Phase One: Item Generation
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