Is workplace bullying always perceived harmful? The cognitive appraisal theory of stress perspective

The present study expands the literature on bullying by unveiling why and when bullying might produce positive outcomes. Employing the cognitive appraisal theory of stress and coping, we hypothesize eustress as an important mechanism through which bullying might enhance the victim's job performance, career success, and creativity. Moreover, we hypothesized psychological capital as a moderator in the workplace bullying‐eustress relationship. We collected temporally segregated field data at three time intervals with a time lag of 2–3 weeks from matched data of employees and their fellow peers (n = 321) belonging to the service sector of Pakistan. Utilizing PROCESS macro, the results substantiated our hypothesized moderated mediation model, in that workplace bullying led to higher performance, career success and employee creativity through the mechanism of eustress and this indirect effect was stronger for individuals who possessed higher psychological capital. Our study opens up a new avenue in the workplace bullying literature by emphasizing the different side of bullying in an eastern cultural context. Key points Employee perception plays a key role in understanding workplace bullying and its outcomes. Workplace bullying, if perceived as a challenge, can result in positive outcomes. Stress is not always negative. In fact, eustress can be beneficial for the employees. Workplace bullying increases eustress which results in increased job performance, employee creativity, and career success. Employees with high psychological capital show eustress as a result of workplace bullying.