Workplace bullying: individual hostility, poor work environment or both? Exploring competing explanatory models in a single longitudinal study.

PURPOSE: A central focus of research and literature on workplace bullying is the importance of explanatory factors such as individual dispositions (i.e., the vulnerability hypothesis) and work environment factors (i.e., the work environment hypothesis). Although several studies address the importance of the two approaches, as well as their individual and combined effects, the unique contribution of each of the competing approaches remain unexplored in a single longitudinal study. METHODS: Based on Affective Events Theory, we explore the contribution of work environment and individual hostility in the occurrence of workplace bullying over time, using two-wave survey data, collected with a 6-month time lag among 152 employees from 7 private and public workplaces. RESULTS: Results confirmed that work environment factors predicted later exposure to bullying. Exposure to workplace bullying at T1 was also related to a poor work environment at T2. Results further showed that higher exposure to workplace bullying at T1 and T2 was related to higher levels of almost all aspects of individual hostility over time. Moreover, poor working conditions especially in T1 predicted individual hostility at T2. CONCLUSION: The present study thus documents that a poor work environment fosters bullying, and when bullying exists in a workplace, this elicits interpersonal hostility. Results points to the importance of addressing, through research and practice, work environment factors as predictors of workplace bullying.

Enhancing Self-Reported Assessment of Working Conditions in Policing: Revisiting the Psychometric Properties and Applications of the Police Stress Questionnaire.

OBJECTIVES: Policing is recognized as a highly stressful occupation, encompassing stressors not commonly encountered in other fields. In response, police-specific stress scales have been developed and used when studying police work. Despite changes in the composition of police personnel, most studies examining police working conditions focus on sworn police officers (SPO), excluding employees without police education (EWPE). To advance research and practice on stress in the police, align results, and increase the possibilities for comparisons across studies using police-specific measures (PSMs) we conducted a psychometric evaluation of the two scales in the Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ). We examined whether adding "Not Applicable" to the response scales would reduce vulnerability and make the PSQ more robust. METHOD: Based on a survey with a randomised sample (N = 560) of SPO and EWPE in the Norwegian Police, we tested the original factor structures of the PSQ through Confirmatory Factor Analysis including tests of factor structures from previous studies. RESULTS: For all models, the indicators of fit indicated a poor fit with either our whole or stratified sample. The response choice 'Not Applicable' provided extended information for SPOs and EWPEs on the PSQ. CONCLUSIONS: To promote aligning results and enabling comparisons across studies using the PSQ, we suggest treating the PSQ scales as formative indexes, rather than reflective scales. Adding "Not Applicable" to the response scale offers an influential elaboration of the PSQ with beneficial and extended information. Generalised studies of stress in the police should include the entire population working there.

Upper and lower musculoskeletal back pain, stress, physical activity, and organisational work support: An exploratory study of police investigative interviewers.

Police investigative interviewers in special victims' units have particularly stressing work conditions. Being few in numbers, with highly specialised competence, the health and well-being of this workgroup are key. This study explores the prevalence of muscular lower and upper back pain and stress and associations with physical activity and organisational work support among 77 police investigators. The police investigative interviewers reported high levels of physical activity. Compared to other police employees, they reported similar levels of musculoskeletal back pain, higher levels of upper back pain, and higher levels of stress. Physical activity was not related to musculoskeletal back pain. In the regression analysis, musculoskeletal back pain was negatively associated with organisational work support. Limitations due to low statistical power and a cross-sectional design apply. However, the study provides interesting insight into the prevalence of musculoskeletal back pain and its association with organisational work support and stress among police employees.