At the International Association for Workplace Bullying & Harassment I had the honor of hearing Denise Salin, one of the foremost researchers of workplace bullying, speak on the topic of gender as it relates to bullying at work. So here’s a few tidbits, as told to me, and 250 other attendees, by Denise Salin.
• Women are more likely to self-label as a target of bullying than men
• Women are more likely to label their past experiences as bullying when discussing them with others
• Women more often define bullying as emotional abuse and professional discrediting
• Men more often define bullying as manipulation of work
• Men emphasize victim characteristics more than women
• Women are more likely to conceptualize bullying as an organizational problem, with organizational antecedents and consequences
• Both men and women experience negative health as a result of being bullied, although the effects seem to be more poignant for women
• Women are more likely to seek social support and avoid the bully, while men are more assertive
• Male HR managers are more likely to refrain from taking action
• Gender of the target, perpetrator and witness all effect whether the witness labels what they observe as bullying (I didn’t catch exactly which gender labels what)
• Witnesses do not think men suffer health consequences
• Targets who exhibit gender-incongruent behavior are more likely to be bullied
• Research does not yet show whether gender matters in terms of job satisfaction, commitment, intention to stay, absenteeism, etc, as they relate to workplace bullying
• Gender is relevant for experience of bullying and for intervention purposes
