Unethical Work Polyvictimisation, Employee Well-Being, and Work Stress

Abstract

Unethical behaviours have a wide-ranging negative influence in the workplace, including adverse effects on individuals who witness or are subjected to such acts. While research has explored the effects of various misbehaviours on employee well-being, this study draws from ethical impact theory and utilizes data from a panel sample of business professionals to examine the relationship between unethical work polyvictimisation, encompassing varied misbehaviours, and aggregated individual well-being and work stress. Most of the hypotheses were supported, with results indicating that unethical work polyvictimisation was negatively related to two conceptualisations of well-being. Unethical work polyvictimisation was also positively related to work stress, which functioned as a mediator and was negatively related to well-being. The findings suggest that organisations should reduce incidences of polyvictimisation to improve employee well-being and decrease their work stress.