Personality traits an antecedent or consequences of workplace bullying

Abstract

This study investigates whether Big Five personality traits are antecedents or consequences of bullying. A two-panel study designed in which panel one T1 data collected in one attempt and after a year panel, two T2 time data collected in the second attempt. Existing research on bullying found that individuals exposed to bullying experience an increase in conscientiousness and neuroticism and a decrease in agreeableness. It is claimed that the personality of the victim contributes to the bullying escalation process. There is still research scarcity whether personality is the cause of bullying or bullying results in personality change and another gap found in previous research was the lack of longitudinal research intended in shaping the individual antecedents or the impact of workplace bullying. By bridging these gaps, our study with simple random sampling collected data from university employees (N = 725). Manova test with repeated measures and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis in AMOS was then used to examine and parallel many competing models to govern data fitness. Results found that experience of bullying in the first interval T1 leads to reduce in agreeableness and an increase in neuroticism in second interval T2. Managerial implication is also discussed.