Predicting the vulnerable target of workplace victimization: a mediated-moderation model

There has been limited research on understanding how situational factors may elicit vulnerability in employees. Drawing on insights from learned helplessness theory and victim precipitation theory, I conducted two studies examining the role of employee perceptions about situational factors in explaining workplace victimization. In the first study, I investigated role ambiguity as a predictor of workplace victimization, while examining how role ambiguity interacted with perceived leadership support and perceived impersonal work climate. Furthermore, I examined the relationship between these predictors and victimization on general health. Drawing on the findings from my first study, I investigated the direct effects of perceived supervisor support on workplace victimization from co-workers in a second study, while examining the interaction of the former with perceptions of an instrumental ethical climate. Moreover, I examined workplace victimization from co-workers as a mediator between perceived supervisor support and emotional exhaustion.

In the first study, I used a representative sample of the UK population consisting of 2,067 working individuals. Secondary data was used for this study since the data contained the measures needed to test my research question, while allowing for a representative sample. The results revealed that the relationship between role ambiguity and workplace victimization was moderated by perceived leadership support, while workplace victimization mediated the relationship between role ambiguity and general health. Employees who experienced high role ambiguity, low perceived leadership support, and a high impersonal work climate were more likely to experience victimization, which was associated with poorer general health.

In the second study, I used a sample of 260 employees from a large hospital and found a direct relationship between perceptions of supervisor support and workplace victimization from co-workers as well as emotional exhaustion. In particular, employees who perceived low supervisor support were more likely to experience workplace victimization from co-workers when they perceived an instrumental ethical climate, while victimization from co-workers mediated the relationship between perceived supervisor support and emotional exhaustion when perceiving a high instrumental ethical climate. This dissertation has important practical implications for deterring victimization, including the need for proactive signs of support from leaders and a supportive work climate.