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    Exploring the experience of workplace qiling (bullying) in Shenzhen, China : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2024-03-24) Sun, Jishuo
    Workplace bullying constitutes a significant and widespread concern that impacts the health and wellbeing of employees in numerous work environments globally. Although previous studies conducted in European countries have explored a dominant understanding of this issue, there is an increasing interest in the role of context (e.g., cultural and socioeconomic differences) in the understanding of workplace bullying. The Chinese context differs markedly from that of European countries, where the majority of the dominant research on bullying has been conducted to date. With a scarcity of bullying research specifically targeting the Chinese context, exploring how Chinese employees experience bullying will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of this issue to better manage it in the Chinese workplace as well as globally. From the perspective of language, qiling is the Chinese term that has been used as the equivalent term for bullying. However, the academic understanding of qiling (in China) may be very different from the concept of bullying developed by scholars in European countries. Therefore, the objectives of this research were to understand the nature and development of workplace qiling from an employee’s perspective in a Chinese context (i.e., Shenzhen). Drawing on a pragmatic philosophical position, a constructivist grounded theory approach was used to address the research objectives. This study collected qualitative data through a semi-structured interview conducted virtually. It adopted three sampling methods—purposive, snowball, and theoretical sampling methods—to recruit participants. As a result, thirty-two participants, who were employees working in companies in Shenzhen and believed that they had either directly or indirectly experienced qiling within the last two years, were recruited for this study. Three stages of data analysis—initial, focused, and theoretical coding—were conducted to construct the findings from the collected data. The research findings contribute to an in-depth understanding of the nature and development of qiling in the workplace in Shenzhen. In terms of the nature of qiling, although its features were generally similar to the dominant understanding of workplace bullying, qiling behaviour is relatively invisible and subtle due to the influence of Chinese culture, and intention was considered by employees in Shenzhen as a crucial feature of qiling. In addition, the identified sources of power causing the power imbalance between perpetrators and targets included hierarchy, zili (seniority), and guanxi (relationship). The traditional Chinese belief of shi bu guo san (the rule of three times) was also identified regarding the frequency and duration of qiling. In terms of the development of qiling, the identified organisational antecedents can be grouped by involving Salin’s (2003) framework as a relevant sensitising concept: (1) enabling structures and processes (i.e., perceived power imbalance, adverse leadership styles, lack of sufficient management competencies, and coercive workplace culture); (2) motivating structures and processes (i.e., conflict of interest and neijuan (rat race)); and (3) precipitating processes (i.e., organisational changes). Although some of the organisational antecedents evident from the data overlapped with European theoretical frameworks, unique antecedents caused or influenced by Chinese culture and the characteristics of Shenzhen were identified. Overall, this study provides new insight into qiling in the Chinese context, which is equivalent to bullying. It also provides further evidence for the importance of contextual framing of workplace bullying in China and across different countries. The findings of this study are crucial because a thorough understanding of bullying is the cornerstone of developing prevention and intervention strategies to reduce the issue in the Chinese workplace, and it also contributes to knowledge about the global understanding and management of workplace bullying.
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    The relationship between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying : what roles do conflict management style and coping resources play in the prevention of workplace bullying? : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand. EMBARGOED until 1 February 2026.
    (Massey University, 2023-05-09) Hadadian, Zagross
    Workplace bullying is a prevalent organizational problem with significant detrimental effects on individuals and organizations. While scholars have acknowledged that workplace bullying may stem from interpersonal conflict, little research has been conducted on the mechanism through which this occurs. Furthermore, there are few studies that have focused on identifying prevention strategies that could address workplace bullying caused by interpersonal conflict. Although scholars have recommended the use of problem solving as a means of preventing workplace bullying caused by interpersonal conflict, its importance as a preventive measure has not been fully acknowledged by scholars and practitioners. Specifically, there is a need for further research to determine how effective problem solving is in addressing various forms of interpersonal conflict in preventing workplace bullying. Moreover, there is a lack of investigation into how organizations can promote the adoption of problem-solving conflict management as a preventive strategy. Drawing on stress theories and models (such as cognitive appraisal theory and the ARCAS model), this study tested the role of problem-solving conflict management as a coping mechanism and ethical leadership and psychological safety as coping resources in the relationship between task/relationship conflict as a work stressor and workplace bullying. Using structural equation modelling and survey data from 456 employees based in New Zealand, this study found that psychological safety through problem solving moderated the relationship between task conflict and exposure to/enactment of workplace bullying behaviors. However, psychological safety did not moderate the relationship between relationship conflict and the enactment of workplace bullying behaviors through problem solving. Additionally, ethical leadership through problem solving moderated the relationship between task conflict and exposure to/enactment of workplace bullying behaviors. Ethical leadership through problem solving moderated the relationship between relationship conflict and enactment of workplace bullying behaviors. However, neither ethical leadership nor psychological safety moderated the relationship between relationship conflict and exposure to workplace bullying behaviors through problem solving. This study makes three important theoretical contributions. First, this study opens up a new theoretical line by investigating workplace bullying as a strain outcome of interpersonal conflict. Second, this study extends our knowledge about the development of workplace bullying caused by interpersonal conflict by examining the influential role of coping resources on the selection of problem-solving conflict management style as a coping mechanism. Third, by collecting data about exposure to workplace bullying behaviors and enactment of workplace bullying behaviors, this study contributes to a better understanding of how workplace bullying develops. Alongside these theoretical contributions, this study also makes a practical contribution. This study examines the influence of coping resources that can influence the selection of a potentially effective conflict management style to cope with interpersonal conflicts as antecedents of workplace bullying. Therefore, the adoption of any coping resources that significantly encourage an effective conflict management style can be used as a workplace bullying preventive measure by organizations.
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    Cyberbullying at work : exploring understandings and experiences : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Human Resource Management at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) D'Souza, Natalia Judeline
    Despite growing evidence that workplace cyberbullying exerts a significant toll on employees and organisations, conceptualisation issues linger, impeding efforts toward prevention and intervention. Indeed, researchers continue to frame cyberbullying as an electronic extension of traditional bullying – overlooking the intricacies and potentially more damaging nature of this phenomenon, due to various cyber-specific features – or disregard conceptualisation altogether. Therefore, the main aim of this research was to explore how workplace cyberbullying is understood and experienced in New Zealand, with a focus on nursing. A three-study qualitative, interview-based research design was employed, with findings from each stage informing the subsequent research progress. Study one explored subject matter experts’ perspectives on workplace cyberbullying. In addition to suggesting a differentiation of cyberbullying from traditional bullying as a construct, findings also revealed professional-based distinctions around approaches to measurement and management, emphasising the subjectivity and contextual nature of cyberbullying. In line with these findings, studies two and three adopted a context-specific approach in exploring nurses’ understandings and experiences of workplace cyberbullying, respectively. The focus on nursing was intended to address a substantial knowledge gap: although this profession experiences higher-than-average rates of traditional bullying, to date, there had been no efforts to investigate how workplace cyberbullying manifested and was experienced within this group. Findings from study two suggested that although academics and nurses generally conceptualised workplace cyberbullying as being a distinct phenomenon, nurses tended to emphasise target perceptions of victimisation over features such as repetition and intent. Based on this understanding, a purpose-specific definition was formulated for study three to explore nurse experiences of workplace cyberbullying. Accordingly, it emerged that not only did most targets experience co-occurring forms of bullying, but in some cases, cyberbullying was perceived as more distressing with a potentially wider scope of harm. Further, findings from study three uncovered the risk of nurses experiencing cyberbullying from external sources such as students, patients, and patient relatives. Unfortunately, several work-related and industryspecific factors frequently presented barriers to reporting and successful resolution. Beyond these contributions to our knowledge on workplace cyberbullying, a multi-factor socioecological model is also posited as a framework guiding future research, as well as prevention and intervention efforts.
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    Workplace bullying among New Zealand veterinarians : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2016) Rasmussen, Wendy
    Workplace bullying is a global issue associated with devastating consequences for individuals and is costly to organisations. Veterinarians play a vital role in New Zealand and whilst there has been considerable research on workplace stress within the profession, little is known about the extent to which workplace bullying occurs and the problems it gives rise to. This study examined job demands (team conflict and destructive leadership) and job resources (ethical leadership and perceived organisational support) and their relationship to employees’ physical health, level of strain and organisational variables in the context of workplace bullying. In addition, the buffering role of psychological capital against workplace bullying was examined. This study investigated these relationships by means of an online survey, using multiple regression analyses to test the main hypotheses. Workplace bullying was prevalent amongst this sample of New Zealand veterinarians and was associated with worse physical health, higher levels of strain, reduced self-rated job performance and higher intentions to quit. Destructive leadership and team conflict had direct effects on personal and organisational variables and created an environment where workplace bullying was able to flourish. Workplace bullying did not mediate relationships to the extent expected. Positive resources reduced the effects of workplace bullying on strain and selfreported job performance but not on physical health symptoms, intentions to quit and absenteeism. Overall, the results indicate negative work conditions are stronger than positive work conditions and are associated with undesirable individual and organisational variables. Workplace bullying is a potent stressor and is fostered by negative work environments. This study concludes it is vital that organisations create positive work environments to prevent or reduce bullying from occurring.
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    A thematic analysis of stories of workplace bullying told on the World Wide Web : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Industrial/Organisational Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2009) Schlup, Josephine
    This study explored how the experience of workplace bullying is described by targets of the phenomenon. The target's experience has been neglected by the research to date as it is difficult to gain access to their point of view. A qualitative approach was undertaken to develop the study in order to gain insight into this experience. Targets' stories were analysed for themes which revealed important aspects of this experience. The World Wide Web was utilised to harvest narratives from carefully selected websites which granted consent to access the stories. These websites provided anonymity for the targets to freely express their experiences of the phenomenon in an effort to provide self-help assistance to viewers. The World Wide Web is a new frontier for the research community which is still developing clear ethical guidelines for this arena. Therefore this project developed its own protocol for conducting its study which was informed by debates of the ethics of internet bases data collection. The analysis of harvested stories identified two global themes: acts of bullying and ongoing consequences. Acts of bullying included the following sub themes: a triggering event, hindsight, persistent and unrelenting negative criticism, scapegoat, tasks and duties changed, deadlines, basic rights denied, personal attacks and name calling, and temper tantrums. The second global theme encompassed ongoing consequences for the target. This theme consisted of the sub themes: rendered powerless, safety hazard, and psychological contract. These themes illustrated a trajectory for the progression of the phenomenon of bullying from targets' points of view. This trajectory provides a richer and more specific understanding of workplace bullying which can assist practitioners and researchers to develop ways for organisations to prevent workplace bullying and/ or undertake interventions when it occurs.