What comes first: person-environment misfit or workplace bullying? A two-wave cross-lagged study

Purpose Can a perceived misfit with the work environment lead to workplace bullying or is it the other way around? The current study explores this question and examines the causal relationship between the different types of person-environment (P-E) misfit and both targets’ and perpetrators’ reports of workplace bullying. In line with the occupational stressor-strain model, we integrated P-E fit literature with workplace bullying research; where this phenomenon is seen as a form of a social-behavioral strain (Baillien, De Cuyper, & De Witte, 2011). We hypothesized that a low fit between the employee and his/her job (P-J), his/her work unit (P-G) as well as her/her organization (P-O) increases workplace bullying over time (i.e. normal causation). Based on scholars’ findings of reversed strain-stressor relationships (Tang, 2014), we also tested a reversed causation where workplace bullying predicts low fit. Finally, we compared these two causal relationships with a reciprocal model in which both misfit and bullying influence each other over time. In all, this study adds to the literature by (1) being among the first to explore the combination of both personal and environmental factors as antecedents of workplace bullying by integrating the P-E fit theoretical lens, (2) applying a cross-lagged design which may indicate causality and (3) extending previous research on P-E fit theory by focusing on misfit and exploring its relation with workplace bullying using the recent multidimensional approach of fit theory. Method Our hypotheses were examined in a full panel two-wave longitudinal design of Belgian employees (N=333) with a time lag of one year. Data were analyzed using structural equation modelling (AMOS 22). Results Preliminary results – in which we tested the manifest SEM model – revealed only a significant reversed negative strain-stressor relationship between being a target of bullying at Time 1 and P-G fit at Time 2. Normal stressor-strain and reciprocal hypotheses were not significant. Conclusions These findings suggest that being a target of bullying could be regarded as a possible cause of perceived misfit within the group instead of being its consequence. However, since these findings are preliminary, further analyses – applying a latent SEM – will also be presented at the conference allowing us to compare the results and discuss them in view of theory and future research.status: accepte