Skip to main content

Faculty & Research

Close

Workplace Victimization: Aggression from the Target's Perspective

Journal Article
This article reviews research on workplace victimization, which we define as acts of aggression perpetrated by one or more members of an organization that cause psychological, emotional, or physical harm to their intended target. The authors compare several types of victimizing behaviors that have been introduced into the organizational psychology literature to illustrate differences and similarities among them. The authors then review studies looking at who is likely to become a victim of aggression. Predictors include personality, demographic, behavioral, structural, and organizational variables. The authors also review research on coping strategies for victimization, which include problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies. The authors conclude with a summary of challenges for victimization research. These include addressing the proliferation of constructs and terms into the literature, attempting to clarify inconclusive findings, and using theory to guide the selection of study variables.
Faculty

Professor of Organisational Behaviour