Testifying for Passage of the Dignity at Work Act: Bullying Victims’ Perceptions of Shared Benefits

Abstract

Workplace bullying upends workplace dynamics, socially isolating stakeholders workplace-wide, leaving them to question their personal safety and well-being. Those directly targeted by bullies’ well-honed, but petty and obscure, communications often are hesitant to report; when they do, their reports not infrequently are met with confusion—or in some cases, with dismissal—as organizations stand with the bully and deny reports’ veracity or significance. Following their participation in a virtual hearing to testify for passage the Dignity at Work Act (DAWA) in Massachusetts, study investigators assessed benefits accruing to 10 anonymous, self-reported workplace bullying victims who also had participated in the hearing. Constant comparative method structured the study. Findings suggested the importance of belonging to re-establishing a sense of personal dignity for participating workplace bullying victims. Assuring victim acceptance and voice is an essential component of anti-workplace bullying policies and leadership practices.