The moderating effects of psychological detachment and thoughts of revenge in workplace bullying

Bullying at work has been receiving an increasing amount of research attention as an important social stressor in work contexts. Extant research has concentrated overwhelmingly on work related predictors of bullying. However, there is a lack of studies focusing on individual moderators of the experience of bullying. The aim of the present study was to examine the moderating role of psychological detachment and thoughts of revenge in the workplace bullying process. To minimize the effect of common method variance, we tested our hypothesis using a research design in which we collected data at two points in time separated by 1 month. A total of 523 individuals responded to both phases, with 511 useable surveys. Results revealed that psychological detachment moderates the relationship between (1) role conflict and workplace bullying and between (b) bullying and psychological strain. Similarly, thoughts of revenge moderate the relationship between role conflict and bullying. The findings are discussed in light of the cognitive activation theory of stress.