Psychological Harassment in the Workplace: Methods of Evaluation and Prevalence

ABSTRACT

Estimates of the prevalence of psychological harassment (mobbing/bullying) in the workplace vary enormously from one country to another. One of the main reasons for this variation is the method of evaluation used to make these estimates. Research on mobbing or bullying at work is basically guided by two methods: the perceived victimization method and the perceived exposure to bullying behaviors method. These methods, and their combination, were used to estimate the prevalence of bullying in a representative sample of the working population (N = 1730) of the Region of Valencia (Spain). The results obtained suggest the following percentages of victims: (i) perceived victimization: 19.5% (N = 338); (ii) exposure to bullying behavior: 12.8% (N = 221); (iii) both methods: 8.4% (N = 146). The study offers other results related to the correspondence between the methods, the most and least frequent bullying behaviors, and the gender and status of the bully.