Development of a concise screening instrument for the risk management of bullying and harassment at work.

This project develops an instrument for managing the most important risk factors for bullying and harassment at work. Despite being mandatory (e.g. Act of 2014), no tools to date specifically address this interpersonal stressor. The current tools tap general psychosocial well-being with the draw-backs of (a) being lengthy, (b) lacking scientific base, (c) not acknowledging the interpersonal nature of the phenomenon, (d) giving few leads for risk management and (e) taking up much time before the results are available. Our new instrument addresses these flaws. Two empirical studies will be carried out in a heterogeneous sample to identify the strongest predictors of workplace bullying and harassment and to establish cut-off scores for both employees and groups. The instrument will be programmed online so that immediate feedback can be generated for its users. The project is carried out in Flanders, in close collaboration with partners specialized in psychosocial risk analyses (Monstarecon and external prevention services), and in collaboration with international scholars.

Keywords:workplace bullying and harassment, Risk Management, Evidence-based instrument

Disciplines:Work and organisational psychology