Different forms of workplace bullying involvement and its link to personality, power, social status and well-being

Workplace bullying research is dominated by a victim perspective that is investigated with variable-centered approaches. Thus, we know little about the interplay of bullying exposure and perpetration. The current study employs a person-centered approach to identify employees that show different patterns of workplace bullying involvement. Moreover, the current study aims to identify predictors and outcomes of latent class membership. Self-reported online survey data were collected among employees with different working backgrounds (N = 1,492) via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Latent class analysis revealed four classes, i.e., (1) mild bullying involvement, (2) bully-victims (3) non-involved and (4) victims. These classes were meaningfully linked with the big five dimensions, trait aggression, dominance, power and social status, as well as vigor and burnout. Specifically, bully-victims scored high on extraversion, neuroticism, trait aggression, dominance, power, burnout and low on status, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and vigor. Victims on the other hand scored also high on neuroticism and – compared with non-involved – lower on agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness and higher on trait aggression, dominance and burnout. Victims showed the lowest levels of extraversion and status. Scholars and policy makers need to be aware of different patterns of being involved in workplace bullying in order to create effective interventions.