Why is Organizational Change Related to Workplace Bullying? Role Conflict and Job Insecurity as Mediators

Although organizational change has often been cited as an important cause of workplace bullying, only few studies have investigated this relationship. The current article aims to address this issue by exploring a direct as well as indirect relationship (i.e. mediation by various job and team-related stressors) between organizational change and bullying. Data were collected in 10 private organizations in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium (N = 1260). Results show a significant relationship between organizational change and bullying. Role conflict, job insecurity, workload, role ambiguity, frequency of conflict, social support from colleagues and social leadership are all related to bullying. Regression analyses reveal a relationship between change and role conflict as well as job insecurity. The other stressors were not associated with organizational change and, hence, do not mediate. Finally, regression analysis shows that the relationship between organizational change and bullying is fully mediated by role conflict and job insecurity.