Inclusive Leadership and Workplace Bullying: A Model of Psychological Safety, Self-Esteem, and Embeddedness

Bullying is an adverse workplace phenomenon that requires serious attention by leaders and managers. Drawing upon Social Identity Theory, Optimal Distinctiveness Theory, and Victim Precipitation Theory, this study investigates how inclusive leadership is associated with workplace bullying (WB). It also examines the mediating role of psychological safety and self-esteem as serial mediators in this relationship. Additionally, the moderating role of embeddedness on the link between inclusive leadership and WB is explored. The study used a two-wave time-lagged survey completed by 226 full-time employees. The survey captured employees’ perceptions about themselves, their work environment, and their line managers. Study hypotheses were tested through structural equation modeling. Study findings revealed that inclusive leadership is negatively related to WB. We also found support for the serial mediation of psychological safety and self-esteem in the link between inclusive leadership and WB. Our study also demonstrates that the negative relationship between inclusive leadership and WB is weaker for employees with high embeddedness, thereby uncovering the less explored dark side of embeddedness.