The Impact of Workplace Aggression on Employee Satisfaction With Job Stress, Meaningfulness of Work, and Turnover Intentions

• Published in: Public personnel management 2021-06, Vol.50 (2), p.159-182
• Main Author: Caillier, James Gerard
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aggression; Employee attitude; Employee turnover; Human resource management; Job satisfaction; Occupational stress; Work Attitudes
• ISSN: 0091-0260; 1945-7421
• DOI: 10.1177/0091026019899976

Research concerning workplace aggression has become more prevalent over the past several decades. These studies have mainly focused on the antecedents and outcomes of workplace aggression in general or one specific type of workplace aggression. This article took a different approach. Specifically, it tests the impact of workplace aggression overall, as well as several types of workplace aggression, on the following work-related attitudes: satisfaction with job stress, turnover intentions, and meaningfulness of work. The moderating effect of satisfaction with job stress in the workplace aggression–turnover intention relationship and the workplace aggression–meaningfulness of work relationship were also investigated. Research findings demonstrated that workplace aggression decreased satisfaction with job stress and meaningfulness of work. Workplace aggression also increased turnover intentions. However, satisfaction with job stress did not interact with workplace aggression in either of the work-related attitudinal models (i.e., turnover intentions and meaningfulness of work). Furthermore, not all types of workplace aggression were found to affect work attitudes. These results are thoroughly discussed in the article.