Ticket Inspectors in Action: Body-Worn Camera Analysis of Aggressive and Nonaggressive Passenger Encounters

Objective: Workplace aggression is a harmful occupational hazard, which has been associated with individual- and organizational-level risk factors. By comparison, little is known about the face-to-face interactional dynamics that shape employee victimizations. To address this gap, we provide an interactional analysis of how ticket inspector actions are associated with the risk of passenger aggression. Method: Data were a video sample of 123 ticket fining events from public buses recorded by occupational body-worn cameras. We systematically coded the inspector and passenger actions in each fining event. The individual and interactional risk factors associated with passenger aggression were estimated with a logistic regression model. Results: Our empirical analysis suggests that aggressive fining events unfold as "character contests," in which the actions of the inspectors are associated with the aggressive outcome. Conclusions: These findings are in line with situational approaches to violence highlighting that aggressive incidents often develop as an interplay between victim and offender actions. We propose focusing on the behavioral actions of employees for prevention measures of workplace aggression.