A note on workplace psychopathic bullying – Measuring its frequency and severity. (May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Boddy, Clive; Taplin, Ross
• Is Part Of: Aggression and violent behavior. Volume 34(2017)
• Page Start: 117
• Page End: 119
• Publication Date: 2017-05
• Subjects: Bullying -- Measurement -- Psychopathy -- Workplace psychopaths -- Corporate psychopath -- toxic leadership; Aggressiveness -- Periodicals; Violence -- Periodicals; Violent offenders -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 302.54
• DOI: 10.1016/j.avb.2017.02.001
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-1789

Abstract

Abstract: In this short paper we discuss methods of measurement for investigating bullying under workplace psychopaths. We find that past estimates of bullying under workplace psychopaths may be too low due to the use of inadequate scales. We conclude that the use of actual numerical values is preferential for measuring psychopathic bullying due to the highly skewed nature of the results. Further, non-numerical measures of the severity of bullying may also need to adopt extreme end point descriptors in order to capture the severe violence of the threats that may be made by a psychopathic manager. Highlights: Psychopathic bullying may be higher than estimates of 26%–35% of workplace bullying. Highly skewed frequencies need to be used in the measurement of psychopathic bullying. Extreme end-point descriptors needed to capture the severity of psychopathic bullying.