ABSTRACT
The process when indirect forms of aggression appear repeatedly and systematically against an employee and he or she is unable to defend him or herself from these negative behaviors is called bullying (Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf, & Cooper, 2003). Bullying may develop from personal focused disagreement or a conflict over a specific argument and escalate over time, which means that such negative treatments turn from subtle to more direct and cruel ones (Bjo¨rkqvist, Osterman, & Hjelt-Back, 1994; Leymann, 1996). Studies on bullying targets show that they have lowered self-esteem (e.g., Harvey
& Keashly, 2003; O’Moore & Kirkham, 2001) and experience anxiety, negative emotionality, depressive symptoms, including suicidal tendencies (Leymann, 1996; Matthiesen & Einarsen, 2004), and stress symptoms (Hoel, Zapf, & Cooper, 2002; Marchand, Demers, & Durand, 2005). Victims feel helpless, and lack a sense of power and control over their situation (Einarsen et al., 2003; Lewis, 2004; Salin, 2003). They report chronic fatigue, problemswith concentration, sleeping, andhealth generally (Hansen et al., 2006; Høgh, Mikkelsen, & Hansen, 2011). It has been shown that during the process of maltreatment, targets of bullying
display a dynamic series of reactions. In Zapf and Gross’s (2001) semi-structure
interview study, targets declared that as soon as they realized the bad intentions and hostility of a bully, they began with constructive conflict-solving solutions, but the integrating, task-oriented strategies were found to be ineffective (see also Rayner, 1997). Victims tend to resort to other strategies at different stages in the process. Any attempt to find understanding and support at the workplace proves to be ineffective, merely increasing the feeling of shame (Lewis, 2004). Høgh and Dofradottir (2001) found that workers subjected to bullying used humor and avoidance strategies more often and problem solving less often than nonvictims. If there appear any forms of resistance, they are covert because of fear of being punished. In the study by Lutgen-Sandvik (2006), one of the forms of resistance displayed by victims was retaliation. Reciprocation took the form of hostile gossip or fantasies of physically harming or killing the bully. A very common behavior was “talking behind the abuser’s back”, derogating the bully (Lutgen-Sandvik, 2006). It seems that hostility toward others, which is a kind of reaction of cognitive nature combining a sense of resentment and suspicions (Palmer & Thakordas, 2005), is one of the responses of victims of bullying to maltreatment (Gamian-Wilk, Bjørkelo, & Hauge, in preparation, (2013); Ireland & Archer, 2002). It seems that bullying as a process of long-lasting maltreatment and rejection results in experiencing stress and impairment in many areas including social functioning: it is difficult for a victim to respond with pro-social behaviors when having to bear constant humiliation.
