This article focuses on teachers’ and principals’ experiences of aggressive emails in home–school collaborations with parents. Semi-structured interviews with 31 teachers and principals from primary, lower and upper secondary schools in Sweden were conducted. Three categories were identified in the material which illuminate the phenomenon of cyberaggression towards principals and teachers from parents: ‘aggressive emails as reactions to principals and teachers’ performances’, ‘aggressive emails as a way of imposing power’ and ‘aggressive emails as a source of anxiety, loss of joy, and decreased focus on core tasks’. The study concludes that cyberaggression in emails from parents is centred around the act of negotiating and that email communication opens up spaces for negotiation to take place. The study also concludes that email cyberaggression tends to be instrumental in character, intended to result in a specific outcome rather than to cause harm. However, cyberaggression influences professional practice and can create a vicious circle of administrative obligation.

Purpose: The study explores how organizational space and situational strength influence bystanders’ intentions to intervene in workplace bullying within the healthcare sector. Design/methodology/approach: The research employs vignette-based interviews with 24 healthcare professionals from various medical fields in Sweden. The vignettes depict different bullying scenarios occurring in various spatial contexts, analyzed through the lens of situational strength theory. Findings: The study identifies three main categories of bystander behavior: active constructive, passive constructive and passive destructive. Most participants described constructive behaviors, with no active destructive behaviors reported. The analysis reveals that situational strength does not consistently predict bystander behavior, suggesting that personal factors and the specific context of each vignette play significant roles. Research limitations/implications: The small sample size (N = 24) limits the generalizability of the findings. Social desirability bias may have influenced participants to report more constructive behaviors. Future research should explore conditions under which bystanders might engage in active destructive behaviors and the long-term effects of bystander interventions. Practical implications: Organizations should develop clear policies and procedures on acceptable behavior and bullying, enforce these consistently and provide support systems to encourage bystander intervention. Understanding the influence of different workplace spaces on bullying and bystander behavior can help in designing effective anti-bullying strategies. Originality/value: This study provides a nuanced understanding of how spatial aspects and situational strength influence bystander behavior in workplace bullying, particularly in the healthcare sector. It highlights the complexity of bystander intervention and the need for comprehensive organizational strategies to address workplace bullying.

Bystanders can affect workplace bullying by engaging in active or passive behaviours. However, there is a knowledge gapregarding how perceived work environment factors relate to bystander behaviour. The study aim was to investigate how job demands, and job resources are associated with bystander behaviour in workplace bullying. An online questionnaire wasdistributed to a sample of health care workers at two time points. Longitudinal data were obtained from 1144 respondents. Cross-lagged panel models were used to investigate associations between job demands, job resources, and bystander behaviours over time. The results showed that social support was positively related to active behaviours, whereas influence at work was negatively related to both active and passive behaviours. Perceived illegitimate tasks were negatively related to active and positively related to passive behaviours, whereas emotional demands had an unanticipated opposite pattern of relationships. The findings provide new information about how factors in the organisational and social work environment are associated with active and passive bystander behaviours in workplace bullying. Specifically, the results expand current understanding of workplace bullying by relating bystander behaviour to the organisational context.

The emergence of cyber mistreatment among frontline workers in their digital interactions with customers, clients and patients represents a significant but relatively new work environment risk within the service sector. Human resource management has a key role in digital transformation, which includes securing safe and healthy workplaces and fostering sustainable practices for handling cyber mistreatment. Departing from the context of the educational sector, the aim of this study is to analyse how cyber mistreatment is managed in workplaces and to explore the approaches employed to prevent and mitigate its negative impact. By identifying existing approaches, gaps in sustainable HRM practices can be identified. Qualitative methods were used to explore teachers’ and principals’ experiences of cyber mistreatment and their approaches to handling and preventing such exposure. The empirical data are based on in-depth interviews with 31 informants (16 teachers and 15 principals) using a cross-sectional design. The data were analysed using a qualitative content analysis framework. The study clearly shows that the approaches utilised to address cyber mistreatment are predominantly reactive and individual-centred, with few proactive and organisationally anchored approaches identified. These findings implicate the need for HRM to develop ethical organisational approaches that do not force service workers to resort to individual coping strategies. We suggest sustainable and ethical approaches that target the problems rather than the symptoms, and that work against a normalisation of cyber mistreatment within the service sector.

Bakgrund och syfte Ohövlighet definieras som subtila, otrevliga interpersonella beteenden påarbetsplatsen som bryter mot normer för respekt (Andersson & Pearson, 1999), t ex nedlåtandekommentarer, avvisande beteenden eller att överrösta andra. Under de senaste två decennierna har forskare studerat konsekvenserna av ohövlighet, där det konsekvent har visat sig varaskadligt för både individer och organisationer (Schilpzand et al., 2016). Utöver att ohövlighetkan vara skadligt för den som utsätts, har det även påpekats att det finns en risk för att ohövligabeteenden påverkar arbetsplatsen i sin helhet. Leiter et al. (2015) har föreslagit att ohövlighetinte bara är ett fenomen som förekommer isolerat, utan att ohövliga beteenden kan sprida sigpå en arbetsplats, påverka normerna för respekt negativt och i slutändan resultera i en kulturav ohövlighet på arbetsplatsen. Dock har få studier empiriskt utforskat antagandet om attohövlighet riskerar att etablera sig i arbetsplatskulturen, och det saknas därför kunskap omvilken betydelse delade uppfattningar om ohövlighet har, och hur det förhåller sig till organisatoriska eller individuella utfall. Följaktligen var syftet med den föreliggande studien att undersöka hur upplevelsen av ohövlighet och normer för respekt, både på individ- och arbetsplatsnivå, relaterar till upplevd arbetskvalitet och indikatorer på utbrändhet. Metod Enkätersamlades in från N = 257 respondenter från femton olika arbetsplatser, vilket gav data på bådeindivid- och arbetsplatsnivå. Respondenterna arbetade främst inom hälso- och sjukvårdensamt byggindustrin. Enkäten inkluderade frågeformulär kring ohövlighet, normer för respekt,upplevd arbetskvalitet och utbrändhet. Huvudresultat och slutsatser Ohövlighet var statistisktsignifikant relaterat till både upplevd arbetskvalitet och utbrändhet på både individ- och arbetsplatsnivå (p .001 - .022). Svagare normer för respekt var associerat med en ökad risk förohövlighet på arbetsplatsen, vilket i sin tur var associerat med försämrad upplevd arbetskvalitet och högre nivåer av utmattning. Sammantaget indikerar resultaten att ohövliga beteendenkan upplevas som en delad stressor på arbetsplatsen, och är därmed inte enbart ett problempå individnivå. Implikationer Majoriteten av studier har utforskat ohövlighet som ett fenomenpå individnivå. Denna studie tillför till litteraturen genom att undersöka om, och på vilket sätt,ohövlighet och normer för respekt kan betraktas som ett delat fenomen på arbetsplatsen. Resultaten kan vara av betydelse i utformningen av åtgärder och interventioner som syftar till attminska negativa beteenden och kränkningar på arbetsplatsen. Finansiering Projektet finansieras av AFA försäkring (dnr 210121). 

Background: Workplace bullying is a severe and widespread occupational problem that negatively affects individuals, organizations, and societies. Studies have shown that national culture influences the way bullying is understood and experienced across different countries. However, our understanding of the cross-cultural variations in workplace bullying is still lacking. This study aimed to compare nurses’ experiences of workplace bullying in two culturally distinct countries: Turkey and Sweden.

Methods: Using a qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nurses (21 Turkish, 16 Swedish) who identified themselves as targets and/or bystanders of workplace bullying. Data were collected during 2019/2020 and analyzed using the deductive content analysis method.

Results: There were many similarities between the Turkish and Swedish nurses in their reports of the most common types, antecedents, effects of, and target responses to workplace bullying. Differences were observed between countries concerning the source of bullying and in bystander responses.

Conclusion: The findings emphasize that workplace bullying is a serious problem in the nursing profession across cultures and attention should be paid to cultural factors in understanding the varying bullying-related experiences of nurses. Healthcare organizations should therefore consider developing tailor-made interventions that fit their local cultural contexts to deal with workplace bullying in a more effective way.

Sexual violence within academia is a major concern, and increased attention is being given to bystander interventions to combat these behaviors. This scoping review aimed to investigate bystander intervention programs focused on the prevention of sexual violence in universities worldwide. Literature searches were conducted using ERC, ERIC, Web of Science, PsycInfo, and PubMed databases. The inclusion criteria were: university-based assessments of a bystander intervention program, and pretest–posttest designs. In total, 1,644 articles were identified, of which 68 were included in the final analysis. Most of the programs focused on students as the target population, and the bystander interventions covered different aspects such as creating new community norms for intervening, increasing a sense of responsibility for intervening, increasing the participants’ feelings of competence, and providing role models for positive bystander behavior. There was a clear trend to use a combination of interactive and educational didactic methods. The programs were mostly delivered in person on campuses. Their outcomes included changes in norms, knowledge, and behaviors. In more one-third of the selected articles, the programs and initiatives were assessed using a pretest–posttest design only, almost just as many had additional follow-up conducted within 3 months. Most intervention programs achieved their intended impacts relating to bystanders and sexual violence, at least in the short term. Thus, investments in these types of preventative initiatives by organizations other than academic institutions could be beneficial.

Workplace civility training has been highlighted as one important measure to prevent theoccurrence of workplace bullying and harassment (Walsh & Magley, 2018). Indeed,intervention studies with the aim to increase civility have shown beneficial effects in the formof increased civility, reduced incivility from supervisors, as well as enhanced work-relatedattitudes over time (Leiter et al., 2011; 2012). Given that low intensity mistreatment mayescalate into workplace bullying (Holm et al., 2022; Zapf & Gross, 2001), civility interventionscould play an important role in reducing the risk of workplace bullying. However, as Walshand Magley (2018) point out, little is known about which factors that influence theeffectiveness of civility training. Thus, more knowledge is needed about both attitudinal andcontextual factors that may influence the effectiveness of workplace civility interventions.Consequently, the present study aims to explore both individual and contextual factors thatmay influence the outcome of a civility intervention