TRADITIONAL BULLYING AND CYBER BULLYING: PREVALENCE, EFFECTS AND WORKPLACE SPIRITUALITY AS AN ANTIBULLYING POLICY

Purpose - Effects of workplace traditional bullying are well established in the literature, very few studies have been conducted on studying the joint impacts of both the traditional bullying and cyberbullying specifically at workplace of organizations. Authors of the current study examined the prevalence (percentage) of face to face and cyberbullying at workplace of healthcare profession and their impact on job outcomes like job strain (job stress and psychological strain) and job satisfaction. Spirituality at workplace is introduced as a moderator which can be used as an anti-bullying policy in organizations to reduce the negative health impacts. Design/Methodology/Approach - In this quantitative, cross sectional research, data is gathered from 410 male and female respondents by means of online survey questionnaire with a response rate of 62%. Analysis has been done through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), results depicted the prevalence of traditional (face to face) bullying with the rate of 26% and cyberbullying (12%) among trainee doctors and nurses em ployed at 6 public and private hospitals of KPK, Pakistan. Findings - Workplace bullying in health sector negatively affects job outcomes as increases job strain (job stress and psychological strain) and decreases job satisfaction. Spirituality at work acts as a moderator between workplace bullying (traditional and cyber) and job outcomes. These findings demonstrated the significance of spirituality at workplace while coping with bullying behaviors. Originality/Value – This paper gives new insights about new type of bullying that is cyberbullying and its adverse effects as well as provides better understanding about the concept of Spirituality at workplace of hospitals by introducing it as a moderator. Research describes the importance of Spirituality and how it might be effective in order to reduce the negative impact of bullying on Job outcomes among trainee doctors and nurses.