A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Workplace Bullying in the Finnish Public Sector. Who? Me?
Authors: Venetoklis Takis, Kettunen Pekka
Publisher: SAGE
Publication year: 2016
Journal: Review of Public Personnel Administration
Journal acronym: ROPPA
Volume: 36
Issue: 4
First page : 370
Last page: 395
Number of pages: 26
ISSN: 0734-371X
eISSN: 1552-759X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X15587982
We examine incidents of workplace bullying by using an Internet-based survey. Our unique sample consists of 1,072 public-sector employees working in 12 Finnish ministries. Of those surveyed, 20.3% reported experiencing work task–related bullying multiple times per month, whereas 11.3% reported experiencing personallevel bullying. Supervisors were less likely to be bullied than subordinates, and women were more likely to experience bullying than men. Among victims who had experienced bullying during the past 12 months, nearly 60% reported that their problem had yet to be solved. To combat workplace bullying in public-sector organizations, we propose a proactive punitive strategy that includes stricter rules and severe administrative penalties to those who breach them.