Although previous studies provide diverse perspectives on subordinate's deviant behavior as a reaction to abusive supervision (ABS), the influence of ABS on subordinates’ inter-personal relations received little attention. Grounded on social exchange theory, this study proposes that subordinates who are being abused by the same supervisor develop a bond among each other. That further provides strength to each of the abused group member to exhibit deviant behaviors against supervisor and non-abused peer group. Data were collected and analyzed through mediation analysis using AMOS. Using a sample of 920 employees from multi-sector organizations it was found that abused employees show citizenship behavior toward other abused peer-group members and counter-productive behavior toward supervisor and non-abused peer-group members. Moreover, citizenship behaviors created among the abused peer-group members partially mediate the relationship of ABS and counter-productive work behavior.

The findings from the first, qualitative stage of a larger sequential mixed method study of bullying in the Australian nursing workplace are reported. Interviews with twenty-six nurses, recruited from two health care organizations, were analysed using the constant comparative method. Participants described informal organizational networks as the mechanism through which predatory, cooperative, and planned group bullying acts were promulgated. These predatory alliances enabled the co-option of legitimate organizational systems, the concealment of bullying, and the protection and promotion of perpetrators. By identifying the manner in which workplace bullying can be embedded within informal organizational networks, this research has important implications for further research in this field.

This paper explores empirical data from human resources practitioners and employees to define the ways in which organisations respond to complaints about workplace bullying in New Zealand. Despite recommendations that organisations take workplace bullying seriously and increasing research in recent years, little evidence exists of improvements in the management of this problem. Indeed, this study adds to the gloom by providing an account of the ways in which a group of organisations failed to take responsibility for the welfare of their employees and members. A selection of disappointing responses to requests for help, and some possible explanations for these responses, is presented. Crucially, a set of terms for identifying organisational inaction towards full resolution of workplace bullying is introduced, resolving some aspects of denotative hesitancy in this area. Defining the approaches that hinder resolution of workplace bullying may contribute to its reduction.

In this work, we analyze various consequences of the phenomenon of mobbing on the health of a work sector with special characteristics: the agro fruit sector. For this purpose, we collected data from a sample of 396 workers (61 men and 331 women) belonging to this sector in the Region of Murcia (Spain). A questionnaire with the following measurement instruments was administered: a Spanish adaptation of the revised Negative Acts Questionnaire (Sáez, García, & Llor, 2003), the Psychosomatic Problems Questionnaire (Hock, 1988), and a measure of absenteeism. The results revealed a significant and positive relation between workplace mobbing and psychosomatic symptoms, but not with absenteeism. The implications of the results for future research are discussed.

This paper reports a study of the characteristics of psychological abuse strategies deployed in the workplace (mobbing or workplace bullying). Based on a literature review, the aim of the present study is two fold: firstly to propose a new taxonomy of mobbing strategies and to provide an operational definition for each of them, and secondly, to assess this taxonomy with the aid of several experts, by using a Delphi survey, and to evaluate the severity of each of the mobbing strategies. The experts were asked to evaluate the adequacy and the severity of the definitions for each mobbing strategy. Thirty experts working in various professions (psychology, medicine, law, sociology, etc.) participated in a two-round Delphi survey. The experts estimated that the new taxonomy and the operational definitions were appropriate, establishing content and construct validity. They ranked the workplace bullying strategies in terms of descending importance: strategies of direct nature, followed by indirect strategies. Theoretical implications of the study, its limitations and future research are discussed.

This communication presents observations of predatory and non-predatory encounters between white sharks and Cape fur seals in a shallow (3–6 m) channel between Geyser Rock and Dyer Island, South Africa. Within the channel Cape fur seals raft extensively for thermo-regulatory purposes, to play, or due to terrestrial competition for space. The channel's physical environment effectively limits a white shark's approach orientation to the horizontal plane, thus inhibiting it to effectively utilize depth, and associated stealth, to capture pinnipeds. In the absence of effective camouflage, sharks may patrol this area in search of unaware, incapacitated or dead seals. Here, predator mobbing is a behavioural strategy adopted by Cape fur seals to lower predation risk. Specific benefits of mobbing may include: (a) perception advertisement to sharks; (b) intra-specific communication of a shark's locality; (c) driving the shark away from the area; (d) increased vigilance; (e) advertisement of a mobber's good health to a shark; and (f) possibly learning about a predator's behavioural capabilities by inexperienced prey. Mobbing expression is further promoted by the channel's shallow nature which enhances a seal's ability to visually detect the shark, and therefore makes it easier for a seal to evade it (reducing immediate predation risk). This environment thus promotes the widespread use of mobbing amongst Cape fur seals when confronted with a patrolling white shark.

From horrific accounts of men decapitated to “ordinary” accounts of stolen motorcycles, the routine beating and killing of alleged criminals by mobs (massa) has become common in Indonesia. This article examines the patterns of keroyokan—mobbing—from 1995 through 2004 in four provinces and highlights the temporal, spatial, and substantive variations of this phenomenon. Drawing from a database of provincial and local news clippings in Bali, Bengkulu, West Java, and South Kalimantan and in-depth case studies and interviews, this article shows that mobbing varies considerably. Its causes are national and local. The temporal data show that nationally the most important factor to influence levels of mobbing was the introduction of decentralization. The power vacuum that resulted from the policy decision to transfer authority from the center to localities increased local violence. Yet this macrolevel explanation is inadequate to show the spatial variation and different forms of mobbing violence. To understand the causes of these dimensions of variation, one has to move away from macronational approaches measuring violence and include a more microethnographic local approach. A richer understanding of mobbing must be locally rooted. This article uses three case studies to illustrate the centrality of local factors affecting this form of violence. The case studies suggest that mobbing is shaped by the acquiescence of actors in local communities and local learning. The article draws attention to the need to incorporate local data and methods into an analysis of violence in Indonesia and to appreciate varied daily rituals of violence as reservoirs of conflict.

The extent to which anti-predator mobbing can be modified in response to new predators was investigated by examining the response of terns (Sterna hirundo and S. paradisaea) and gulls (Larus fuscus, L. argentatus and L. canus) to introduced mink Mustela vison, native otter Lutra lutra and rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus models in areas inhabited by mink and areas uninhabited by mink. Gulls and terns typically flock over predators of adult birds (a fleeing response), whilst diving at predators of chicks and eggs (an attacking response). Terns in mink-inhabited areas flocked over a model of a mink, but did not dive at it as much as they dived at otter and rabbit models. A stronger fleeing rather than attacking response suggests that adult terns perceive mink as a threat to themselves as well as to their chicks and eggs. Gulls, in comparison, dived at the mink model, indicating that mink are not perceived as a threat to the adults of these considerably larger species. Both gulls and terns showed a much lower level of response to mink in mink-free areas, suggesting that the type and extent of mobbing is altered through experience with predators and the level of risk associated with mobbing the predator.