ABSTRACT
In the last decade, some researchers have turned their attention to workplace bullying in American higher education. Such abusive and corrosive behaviors not only demoralize faculty and staff, but also disproportionately affect women and people of color. The workplace bullying literature also includes discussions on 'mobbing,' which for the purpose of this chapter’s study is a group of bullies abusing a single target. With the knowledge that women and people of color are more likely to deal with workplace bullying in higher education, I am extending the literature to analyze if white women and Black women are more likely to face mobbing in higher education. With n =117 Black women and white women assistant professors, the research questions that guided this study were: RQ1: Are Black women assistant professors or white women assistant professors more likely to face mobbing from other women?. and RQ2: Are Black women assistant professors or white women professors more likely to face workplace mobbing from men?
After examining historical and contemporary manifestations of mobbing for Black women, I used a chi-square analysis to examine if this phenomenon occurs for junior women faculty. The chi-square analysis confirmed that Black women assistant professors are more likely to be mobbed by women that white women assistant professors. The finding is at a statistically significant level X2 (1, N=117) = 6.359 p=.012, yet there was a negligible difference of mobbing instances for Black and white women when the bullies were men.
