The Moderating Role of Perceived Organizational Support on the Relationship between Bullying and Work Behaviors

Workplace bullying has been linked to many unfavorable outcomes that can be very costly to organizations. One way to minimize the impact of this negative behavior is through perceived organizational support (POS). Thus, researchers have called for more studies examining the joint effects of workplace bullying and POS on various outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine whether POS would moderate the relationship between workplace bullying and outcomes that are related to work behaviors and motivations, namely, organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and work engagement. A total of 224 individuals working in a variety of industries participated in an online survey. The study examined the direct effects of workplace bullying on OCB-I (behaviors directed towards individuals), OCB-O (behaviors directed towards the organization), and work engagement as well as the moderating effects of POS on such relationships. In support of the hypotheses, results showed that workplace bullying was negatively related to all three outcomes. However, POS moderated only the relationship between workplace bullying and OCB-I. The effects of workplace bullying on OCB-I were more negative when POS was low, but there was no relationship between the two when POS was high. In other words, high POS nullified the negative impact of workplace bullying on OCB-I. These findings suggest that in order to foster positive work behaviors, organizations should create a supportive work environment through the implementation of anti-bullying policies and training programs