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Introduction
Workplace bullying is an ongoing or repeated misuse of power in relationships (LaVan and Martin, 2021), unfolding via human interaction (D’Cruz and Noronha, 2021), which violates relational dignity (D’Cruz et al., 2021a) and hampers sustainable workforce management (Anlesinya and Susomrith, 2020). Workplace bullying is a widely prevalent behavioural issue which affects millions of workers around the world on a daily basis (Nielsen and Einarsen, 2018). It is a multi-faceted construct comprising several “varieties” including interpersonal, depersonalised, internal, external, real and cyber (D’Cruz and Noronha, 2021, p. 5). This paper focuses on the management of workplace bullying, defined as a “regular and persistent pattern of abrasive behaviours and hostile messages directed toward one or more persons of weaker power with a real or perceived intent to harm” (Ahmad et al., 2017, p. 204). Despite concerted research and practice attention focusing on the harmful effects of workplace bullying on targets, bystanders and workplaces (see, for example, Conway et al., 2021; Hansen et al., 2021; Hogh et al., 2021; Islam et al., 2021a; Pouwelse et al., 2021), the phenomenon remains a contentious problem worldwide (D’Cruz et al., 2021b; Islam et al., 2019), resulting in International Labour Organisation/ILO Convention 190 seeking to eliminate violence and harassment at work (ILO, 2019).
We posit that the destructive behaviours which constitute workplace bullying can be countered through positive business ethics (PBE) to facilitate the establishment of sustainable workplaces. PBE entails “good works” comprising supportive and nurturing honourable and commendable behaviours that are morally praiseworthy (Stansbury and Sonenshein, 2012), thereby resulting in workplaces which are ethically and socially responsible (Kramar, 2014). To capture good works, we engage servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1997) and workplace compassion (Frost et al., 2006), each of which facilitates relational dignity (D’Cruz et al., 2021a) through their associated positive, ethical and sustainable attributes (van Dierendonck, 2011; Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara and Guerra-Baez, 2016). Accordingly, our research examines how employee perceptions of servant leadership impact their perceived exposure to workplace bullying by enhancing their compassion in the workplace. Furthermore, we explore the role of employee social cynicism beliefs (SCBs) as a contextual moderator to demonstrate that societal norms shape experiences of workplace bullying (D’Cruz et al., 2016, 2021c).
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