Year

2024

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

School of Education

Abstract

This study focuses on Workplace Bullying in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE has a unique population, in that it is largely comprised of expatriates who present a wide range of cultural differences in a multicultural environment. Although, scholarly interest in workplace bullying has grown globally over the last 30 years, it has received limited attention in the Middle East region and has tended to focus on individual and interpersonal levels of analysis.

The need for a study of this nature arose from my own experience of workplace bullying and my discussion with others who had also been mistreated similarly. Whilst it became clear that issues were occurring for many people, the terminology was not well-known and resolutions were opaque. A literature review demonstrated that existing research on bullying is largely focused on Western countries, making it less relevant to the UAE, and thus presenting a gap in knowledge. Therefore, the aim of this study was to contribute to the limited literature on workplace bullying in an under-researched, multicultural country, that has a unique population. This study reports on several questions raised with reference to this distinct context; these questions relate to 1) the prevalence of workplace bullying amongst a sample of workers in the UAE, 2) the role of social identification and culture, and 3) the extent to which workplace bullying policies exist and are implemented in the UAE workplaces. The methodology used to collect data is quantitative and internationally recognized measures are incorporated into an online survey. A snowball sampling approach collected data from 540 individuals employed in the UAE. The survey resulted 462 usable responses, and results were analysed with the use of regressions tests.

The findings indicate that employees report high frequency rates of bullying in the workplace. However, a high percentage of these employees do not consider themselves to be targets of workplace bullying. Work-related bullying, occurred more frequently than personal bullying, suggesting that the country's competitive environment may influence behaviors in the workplace. Workgroup identification, in combination with perceived identification of other colleagues, appeared to have positive impacts on reducing the level of exposure to workplace bullying. Despite the range of cultural values in the UAE, these have limited impact on the relationship between identification and exposure to workplace bullying. The context leads to expatriate workers acting as Cultural Chameleons in that they adjust their interpretations and responses to bullying behavior to fit the current environment. Finally, the existence of organizational workplace bullying policies had minimal impact on its resolutions.

To conclude, this study critically examines and expands the current body of workplace bullying literature, specifically in international and multicultural areas, making significant contributions to the field of research and addressing shortcomings of earlier studies.

FoR codes (2008)

1503 BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT, 1701 PSYCHOLOGY

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Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.