The moderating role of emotion- and problem-focused coping strategies in the association between work stressors and exposure to workplace bullying

Studies on person-related moderators in the association between work-related factors and exposure to workplace bullying are scarce. Therefore, this study investigated whethere motion- and problem-focused coping strategies (i.e., person-related factors) are moderators in the association between workload, job insecurity, role conflict and role ambiguity (i.e., work-related factors), and exposure to workplace bullying. We sampled a representative sample of 1,068 Belgian employees. Structural equation modeling in AMOS confirmed that both work- and person-related factors contribute to exposure to workplace bullying. The results showed that workload, job insecurity, role conflict, and role ambiguity are positively associated with exposure to bullying. Further, emotion focused coping strategies amplified the positive association between role ambiguity and exposure to bullying. No evidence was found for the moderating role of emotion-focused coping strategies in the association between workload, job insecurity and role conflict, and exposure to bullying. The hypothesis on the buffering role of problem-focused coping strategies was also rejected. To conclude, we advise organizations (a) to reduce workloads, job insecurity, role conflict and role ambiguity, and (b) to teach employees about the possible negative effects of emotion-focused coping strategies especially in combination with role ambiguity.