Workplace bullying or mobbing: Gender similarities and differences in its perceived severity

Based on gender role socialization theory, the aim of this study is to analyze the impact of the sociodemographic variable "gender" on the way in which people evaluate the severity of different workplace bullying behaviours. Study 1, a Delphi survey carried out with experts showed that male bullying experts evaluated emotional abuse as less severe than their female counterparts. Study 2, conducted with employees, replicated and extended the findings of Study 1 and showed that female employees considered relational aggressive behaviours (isolation and emotional abuse) as more severe than male employees. These results provide converging evidence that gender impacts conceptualizations of workplace bullying. This may have important implications when corporate executives, of any gender, have to decide how to prevent and handle workplace bullying cases and related situations.