PERCEPTIONS OF BULLYING AND ORGANISATIONAL ANTECEDENTS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN WORKPLACE by NGAO DORCAS LENYALO MOTSEI Submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR in the FACULTY OF ECONOMIC AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES at the UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA Supervisor: Prof S.M Nkomo PRETORIA SEPTEMBER 2015 ABSTRACT The majority of the extant literature on workplace bullying has focused on bullying as an interpersonal phenomenon rather than examine its structural contributors. Similarly, few studies have examined players in bullying and organisational antecedents at the same time. This study provides a three-way view and understanding of how and why bullying happens in organisations from the perspectives of targets, Human Resource (HR) professionals, and bystanders by examining organisational antecedents of bullying using Salin’s (2003b) workplace bullying conceptual framework. Salin’s (2003b) conceptual framework on workplace bullying provided a lens through which to examine and explain organisational contributors to bullying in the workplace. Data were collected through qualitative interviews with targets and HR professionals and focus group discussions with bystanders. Salin’s (2003b) framework was used to structure the interview questions, the focus group agenda and for initial data analysis. The study’s key findings point to the significance of incorporating societal context in understanding organisational factors which make bullying possible and more likely to occur. The study thus makes a significant contribution to a theoretical conceptual level by refining and expanding Salin’s (2003b) framework and including societal context as a structural contributor to bullying in the workplace. On a methodological level, the use of qualitative methods makes a contribution to research conducted by South African scholars. Previous South African research on bullying was primarily conducted through surveys aimed at determining the extent of bullying prevalence in the workplace, whereas this study seeks to understand bullying from the participants’ subjective experiences. Lastly, the study makes a contribution on the practical level by providing organisations, HR professionals and bystanders with insights and mechanisms they can use to heighten awareness around the prevalence of bullying in the workplace, as well as ways in which they can prevent and/or handle bullying incidents when they occur. Keywords: bullying; harassment; antecedents; conceptual framework; societal context. -ii- DECLARATION I, Ngao Dorcas Lenyalo Motsei, declare that “Perceptions of Bullying and Organisational Antecedents in the South African Workplace” is my own unaided work and contains no material that has, to the best of my knowledge, been accepted for the award of any other degree in any other university or tertiary institution, as well as any material previously published, except where due reference has been made in the text of this thesis. SIGNED______________________________DATE___________________ -iii- CONTACT DETAILS Student Information Student Name Ms Ngao D.L. Motsei Student Number 11019809 Email Address [email protected] Contact Number +27 (0)82 414 7935 Degree PhD (Organisational Behaviour) Supervisor Information Home department Human Resource Management Supervisor Prof S.M. Nkomo Supervisor’s e-mail [email protected] Supervisor’s contact number +27 (0)12 420 4664 -iv- DEDICATION The wind beneath my wings! To my late father Rantebo John Motsei, who passed on the 31st May 2014, when I was busy writing this thesis. -v- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are inherent polarities in writing a doctoral thesis. On the one end of the pole, writing a thesis is a solitary exercise. On the opposite pole, success is dependent on the support of, and encouragement from other people. Different people have directly and indirectly played an important role of support and encouragement during the different stages of my research journey. I am eternally grateful to the following people, who have made this research possible: First and foremost, my heartfelt thanks go to my supervisor Professor Nkomo for the guidance during my PhD journey. Thank you for the detailed feedback, and for the constant reminder to “stay in the helicopter”, and to always remember the big questions. Thank you for your insightful advice and for believing in me in every step of my research, including during the times when I did not believe in myself. To the participants of this research without whom there would not be a study. My sincerest thanks go to the targets of bullying who trusted me with their painful bullying stories and experiences, thus opening their wounds. To Ntate Litheko, CEO of the Institute of People Management (IPM) and to Marius Meyer and Penny Abbott of the South African Board for People Practices (SABPP), thank you for carrying my call to participate in the study on your institutions’ websites. Thank you to the University for the Scholarship which helped me to have the interviews professionally transcribed. This saved me loads of time. I would like to thank the University for arranging workshops and training on ATLAS.ti which proved to be invaluable during the data analysis stage of my research. -vi- To Dr. Liz Archer, qualitative research expert of the University of South Africa, thank you for making my data “alive” and for your guidance in navigating and in making sense out of the gathered and analysed data. To my lovely son, Kgosi Moagi. Thank you for giving away some of your Saturdays to drive me to the interviews and for your encouragement when this journey was too taxing on my part. To Zulumathabo Zulu, many thanks for your assistance with all things technical to uplift the professional look and feel of my work. To Hanli Hanekom, thank you so much for all the logistical and administration-related support, and for blocking time off in my diary, as well as reminding me to take time off, when I needed a break the most. To Andrew Graham, who edited the language of the thesis. To my parents and siblings, thank you for your support and understanding when I missed some of the family gatherings. To my employer for allowing me a little time off when I needed a week or two to simply concentrate on my research. Lastly, to all the different people who played different supportive roles, small or big, directly or indirectly, at different stages of this journey, your contributions have not gone unnoticed. Thank you. -vii- TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................... xiv LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. xv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS .................................................. xvi CHAPTER 1 ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 1.2 BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH MOTIVATION .................................... 1 1.2.1 Workplace bullying research in South Africa ...................................... 4 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT .......................................................................... 6 1.4 PURPOSE STATEMENT .......................................................................... 7 1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ....................................................................... 7 1.6 RESEARCH SCOPE AND APPROACH ................................................... 8 1.7 CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE RESEARCH ................................................ 11 1.8 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ................................................................ 12 1.9 KEY DEFINITIONS ................................................................................. 12 1.9.1 Defining workplace bullying .............................................................. 13 1.9.2 Workplace bullying and other negative behaviours at work .............. 17 1.9.3 Players in workplace bullying ............................................................ 21 1.9.4 Research design and methodology .................................................. 22 1.10 THESIS STRUCTURE ......................................................................... 23 CHAPTER 2 ......................................................................................................... 25 2.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 25 2.2 ANTECEDENTS OF WORKPLACE BULLYING ..................................... 26 -viii- 2.2.1 Environmental antecedents .................................................................. 26 2.2.1.1 Social antecedents ........................................................................... 27 2.2.1.2 Organisational antecedents .............................................................. 27 2.3 APPROACHES AND PERSPECTIVES TO BULLYING RESEARCH ..... 31 2.3.1 Descriptive / epidemiological approach ................................................ 31 2.3.2 Individualist approach .......................................................................... 31 2.3.3 Theory/construct based approach ........................................................ 35 2.3.3.1 A social exchange perspective ......................................................... 35 2.3.3.3 Learned helplessness perspective .................................................... 41 2.3.3.4 A social