Investigating justice and bullying among healthcare workers

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between workplace bullying, organizational justice dimensions and intentions to leave. The authors posit that workplace bullying is positively related to intentions to leave, and that this effect is transmitted through lower justice perceptions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors surveyed 146 healthcare workers, using factor analysis and the Preacher and Hayes (2008) PROCESS macro to test their hypotheses.FindingsThe study results indicate that workplace bullying is positively associated with intentions to leave. This effect is transmitted through lower entity-based distributive justice perceptions.Research limitations/implicationsThe study sample was cross-sectional and collected at a single point in time. Future research should examine these relationships in a longitudinal method.Practical implicationsThe study results suggest that when a healthcare worker experiences bullying in the workplace, they begin to perceive their organization as more unfair. These negative feelings toward their organization lead to a desire to permanently separate from the organization. These results suggest that workplace bullying has serious ramifications for turnover, and that healthcare organizations can mitigate these negative effects by increasing perceptions of organizational justice through being transparent about their decisions and the process going into this decision-making.Originality/valueThese findings extend existing research by empirically testing the effects of workplace bullying on intentions to leave within the healthcare industry.