Workplace harassment from the victim's perspective: A theoretical model and meta-analysis.
2006/09/01 by Nathan A. Bowling, Terry A. Beehr · 1,299 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Ambiguity #Attribution #Clinical psychology #Harassment #Industrial and organizational psychology #Meta-analysis #Occupational stress #Organizational behavior #Perspective (graphical) #Psychology #Reciprocity (cultural anthropology) #Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies #Social psychology #Stalking, Cyberstalking, and Harassment #Stressor #Workplace Violence and Bullying
paper · doi:10.1037/0021-9010.91.5.998
published in Journal of Applied Psychology 91(5), 998-1012 (American Psychological Association)
openalex publication_date 2006/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract
Although workplace harassment affects the lives of many employees, until recently it has been relatively ignored in the organizational psychology literature. First, the authors introduced an attribution- and reciprocity-based model that explains the link between harassment and its potential causes and consequences. The authors then conducted a meta-analysis to examine the potential antecedents and consequences of workplace harassment. As shown by the meta-analysis, both environmental and individual difference factors potentially contributed to harassment and harassment was negatively related to the well-being of both individual employees and their employing organizations. Furthermore, harassment contributed to the variance in many outcomes, even after controlling for 2 of the most commonly studied occupational stressors, role ambiguity and role conflict.
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