Exploring the risk groups and branches for workplace bullying: A latent class cluster approach

In this study, we first explore whether different exposure groups of workplace bullying exist, employing a large, heterogeneous sample. The results show six different exposure groups: almost 30.5% is not bullied since they report hardly any negative act at work at all, 27.2% face some limited work criticism, 20.8% face limited negative encounters, 8.3% is occasionally bullied, 9.5% are predominately work related bullied, and a total of 3.6% can be seen victims of severe workplace bullying. In a second step, the relationship between the identified target groups and social demographics were investigated using multinomial logistic regression to indentify risk groups of workplace bullying. Employees between the age of 35 and 54, public servants, blue-collar workers, as well as employees working in the food and manufacturing industries have a significantly elevated risk to be victims of workplace bullying. In contrast, employees younger than 25, employees with a temporary contract, teachers, nurses and assistant nurses are those least likely at risk. These findings are important for policymakers at the national and organisational level as they assist in focussing towards possible avenues to prevent workplace bullying.