Resilience as a moderator of the effects of types of workplace bullying and job performance

Workplace bullying describes an ongoing and long-term perception of employees in the workplace, that they are being severely bullied or harmed by members of the organization, and that it is difficult to protect themselves from such behavior [1]. Bullying can generally be categorized into three types [2]: work-related bullying, which involves being burdened with unreasonable workloads or being withheld crucial work information; personal bullying, which involves gossip, rumors, and verbal abuse; and physical bullying, which involves physical contact and threatening gestures and actions. Bullying can originate from anyone, including supervisors, colleagues, and subordinates [3]. Approximately 15% of employees have experienced workplace bullying [4]. Workplace bullying is more prevalent in the nursing sector, with up to 40% of nursing staff having experienced workplace bullying [5]. This suggests that individuals in the nursing sector are at greater risk of experiencing workplace bullying than are those in other sectors [6].

Workplace bullying can lead to a variety of physical and mental health problems, including stress, burnout, anxiety, nervousness, fear, depression, frustration, helplessness, and posttraumatic stress disorder [7‐13], further leading to increase the possibility of absenteeism or resignation. Workplace bullying can also reduce job satisfaction, productivity, and job performance [8, 11, 12, 14‐17], and even affect interpersonal relationships [18]. Workplace bullying (e.g., verbal and physical violence) among nurses affects their job performance [19] and may affect nursing quality and patient safety [5, 20].

Solving workplace bullying among nurses involves increasing awareness of workplace bullying and creating an environment that serves to minimize bullying [8, 21]. The impact of workplace bullying also depends on an individual's ability to cope with workplace bullying [22]. Improving the conflict management skills [23] of nurses and teaching nurses how to be resilient can moderate the negative effects of workplace bullying [24, 25].

Resilience is generally defined as a psychological trait in which an individual is capable of quickly recovering from adversity and depression when faced with major adversity, risk, or pressure [26]. Resilience helps employees better defend themselves against workplace bullying [27, 28]. Enhancing employee resilience improves individual productivity [29]. Resilience is recognized as a beneficial psychological trait in the workplace context. Research has demonstrated a positive correlation between resilience and job performance [30]. Nursing staff with high levels of resilience have been shown to have better job performance [31].

Resilience moderates the relationship between stress and negative emotions [27] and buffers the impact of burnout and poor mental health on nurses [28]. Some studies have shown that personal resilience positively moderates workplace bullying and psychological distress [32‐39]. For example, Anasori [32] found that resilience can moderate the effects of workplace bullying and psychological distress on employee creativity. Similarly, resilience has been shown to reduce the adverse effects of workplace bullying on organizational commitment [33]. Gupta and Bakhshi [34] found that resilience moderates the relationship between workplace bullying and perceived victimization, and moderates the negative effects of perceived victimization on employee well-being. Zhou [35] further demonstrated that resilience moderates the effects of workplace bullying on personal well-being, with individuals possessing lower resilience experiencing greater declines in well-being when confronted with workplace bullying. Additionally, resilience serves as a protective factor for nursing staff, helping to mitigate the effects of emotional exhaustion [36].

Perspectives on the moderating effects of resilience differ by study. Kang and Han [38] investigated how resilience moderates the effects of workplace bullying on work achievement and found that resilience did not moderate the relationship between bullying and work achievement. According to Annor and Amponsah-Tawiah [39], resilience acts as a reverse moderator of the relationship between workplace bullying and subjective well-being. They found that the effects of workplace bullying on subjective well-being are greater among individuals with low resilience than among those with high resilience. Employees with high resilience might rely on their personal resources to cope with or tolerate bullying.

In most studies, workplace bullying is treated as a single integrated variable. However, in practice, workplace bullying can be divided into several types, including reputational attacks, excessive criticism, interference, physical harm, and coercion [40‐42]. Some types of workplace bullying are worse than others [43]. Resilience moderates the relationship between different types of bullying and mental well-being [44]. A study involving adolescents revealed that resilience serves as a form of psychological immunity, mitigating the adverse effects of physical bullying and reducing the threat of physical harm to cognitive health. Nevertheless, with regard to language-related bullying (rumors, and verbal abuse) behaviors, resilience may exacerbate negative effects [44]. This highlights the complexity of resilience's moderating effect on bullying and behavioral outcomes. Few studies in the nursing sector have investigated the moderating effect of resilience on the relationship between workplace bullying and job performance. The present study suggested that more resilient employees are better able to face workplace bullying behaviors. Furthermore, more resilient employees are better able to take advantage of external resources to mitigate the effects of workplace bullying [45]. Resilience moderates the effects of negative factors in the workplace on job outcomes [27]. Therefore, this study posited that employees with high resilience perceive themselves as having sufficient ability to cope with excessive workloads. In addition, workplace bullying affects how an individual consumes resources, which affects the moderating effect of resilience. In summary, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether resilience moderates the effects of workplace bullying on job performance and determine whether this moderating effect differs between three types of bullying: personal, work-related, and physical bullying. The following hypotheses were established (Fig. 1): resilience moderates the relationship between personal bullying and job performance (H1), the relationship between work-related bullying and job performance (H2), and the relationship between physical bullying and job performance (H3).

Among the participants, 43.13% were 30–39 years old and 39.1% were 20–29 years old. The majority of the participants were women (90.28%), and 9.72% were men, and 50.95% were married. Regarding educational level, 68.96% had completed university, 17.06% had completed junior college, and 13.98% had completed graduate school. Regarding nursing experience, 58.06% had 2–5 years, 15.4% had 6–10 years, and 18.25% had > 10 years of experience. Most participants worked at outpatient departments (38.39%), followed by general wards at 18.96% (Table 1).

Table 2 presents the descriptive statistics, including the means, standard deviations, and correlation coefficients, of the variables employed in this study. The participants in the study reported moderate levels of job performance and resilience and experienced relatively low levels of workplace bullying. An inverse correlation between workplace bullying and resilience was observed, and a positive correlation between resilience and job performance was observed. Nursing experience was positively associated with resilience.

To evaluate moderating effects, three regression models, namely Models I, II, and III, were generated (Table 3). These models corresponded to separate test hypotheses H1, H2, and H3, respectively.

In Model I (adjusted R² = 0.52, p < 0.001), job performance was predicted by personal bullying (b = − 0.15, p < 0.01) resilience (b = 0.38, p < 0.001), and the interaction between personal bullying and resilience (b = 0.11, p < 0.05; Fig. 2). The model suggested that resilience moderates the positive relationship between personal bullying and job performance. However, in Model II (adjusted R² = 0.48, p < 0.001), job performance was predicted by resilience (b = 0.34, p < 0.001) but was not predicted by work-related bullying (b = − 0.05, p > 0.05) or the interaction between work-related bullying and resilience (b = 0.05, p > 0.05). In Model III (adjusted R² = 0.57, p < 0.001), job performance was predicted by physical bullying (b = − 0.18, p < 0.01), resilience (b = 0.44, p < 0.001), and the interaction between physical bullying and resilience (b = 0.17, p < 0.05; Fig. 3). The model suggested that resilience moderates the positive relationship between physical bullying and job performance.

This study demonstrated that resilience moderates the effects of personal bullying and physical bullying on job performance. Hypotheses H1 and H3 were validated. Most past studies on this topic have investigated the moderating effect of resilience on the relationship between workplace bullying and psychological distress or well-being [32‐39]; few studies have investigated the moderating effect of resilience on the relationship between workplace bullying and job performance. In addition to investigating this effect, the present study explored whether the effects of resilience on the relationship between workplace bullying and job performance differ by the type of workplace bullying. The study findings were consistent with other studies that have shown that workplace bullying has a negative effect on productivity and job performance [8, 58, 59].

The findings of this study highlight the value of resilience in the face of workplace bullying. This study hypothesized that resilience moderates the effects of workplace bullying on job performance through the creation of protective mechanisms. After examining three different types of workplace bullying, this study found that resilience moderates the negative effects of personal bullying and physical intimidation on job performance. Physical intimidation is a direct form of bullying that involves physical aggression, such as hitting, kicking, pinching, pushing, and bumping. Personal bullying is another direct form of bullying that involves reviling, teasing, and making verbal threats [41]. Personal bullying can lead to anxiety, depression, and traumatic stress disorder [7‐10]. Resilience is thought to counteract the negative effects of external stressors, especially in the field of nursing. Resilience ameliorates many adverse psychological outcomes, such as anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder [60]. In short, resilience is significantly associated with improved mental health [61] because it helps the individual maintain their emotional stability in the face of negative emotions. Several studies on this topic have reported similar findings. According to a study [62], resilience can be regarded as a resource that individuals can draw on to perform well and remain satisfied with their job in spite of stress in the workplace. According to a study [28], improving personal resilience improves the health and job performance of nursing staff. Resilience plays a crucial role in enabling individuals to positively face challenges and adapt to adversity [63]. Our results were consistent with the idea that resilience enables people to respond effectively to personal bullying and physical bullying in the work environment and to positively adjust to external threats, thereby mitigating the negative effects of workplace bullying on job performance.

Our findings indicate that resilience is not a panacea for all forms of workplace bullying. Specifically, resilience does not moderate the adverse effects of work-related bullying; such bullying (in the form of excessive workloads and unreasonable work demands and deadlines) reduces workplace performance regardless of an individual’s level of resilience. This occurs because excessive workloads deplete employees' cognitive, physical, and emotional resources. Nonetheless, our findings suggest that although resilience can moderate the negative effects of personal bullying and physical intimidation, resilience alone cannot moderate the negative effects of resource depletion caused by unreasonable treatment at work [64]. In the past, work-related bullying was often mistakenly perceived as the implementation of strict management practices by the organization or its leadership [65]. Therefore, work-related bullying was more likely to be ignored than was personal bullying or physical intimidation [43, 65], especially in Asia, which has a performance-oriented workplace culture in which individuals tend to attach more importance to achievement and competition, which also leads to a culture of tolerance toward work-related bullying [66, 67]. In addition, nursing workplaces tend to place particular emphasis on efficient and real-time cross-team professional collaboration [68]. In nursing environments, all team members are expected to be patient-centered [69]. Nurses may mistakenly believe that workplace bullying does not violate workplace norms [66]. Due to the combined pressure of group misperception and the focus on team performance, victims of bullying may overlook the fact that they are experiencing unfair treatment at work. Consequently, they might not know how to effectively utilize resilience to mitigate these negative effects.

According to the correlation analysis in this study, age was significantly positively correlated with both personal and work-related bullying, suggesting that older nurses are more likely to experience workplace bullying. This finding contrasts with results from U.S.-based studies [21, 70]. A possible explanation for this discrepancy may lie in the differing work cultures in the nursing field across countries. In Taiwan, for example, senior nurses typically bear heavier workloads—not only are they assigned additional tasks by unit supervisors, but they are also responsible for educating, training, and supporting junior nurses. This increased burden elevates their exposure to interpersonal conflicts and hierarchical tensions. Moreover, the advanced professional competence, work enthusiasm, and innovative thinking of senior nurses may provoke conflicts of opinion and power struggles with colleagues or supervisors, potentially escalating into workplace bullying incidents [21, 71]. Future research should further investigate the role of resilience across different age groups.

This study investigated the moderating effect of resilience on the relationship between different types of workplaces bullying and job performance. Resilience is a protective resource for nursing staff facing complex work environments. Moreover, resilience helps individuals adapt and deal with pressure, threats, and adversity. Resilience also moderates the negative effects of personal bullying and physical intimidation on job performance. Nursing units should strengthen resilience among nursing staff through education and training. Notably, resilience was not found to have a significant moderating effect on work-related bullying, possibly because work-related bullying might be misinterpreted as a request or challenge from organizations, further increasing tolerance to this type of bullying. Given the negative effects of workplace bullying on job performance, organizations should adopt clearer explanations and norms for work-related bullying and be more proactive in mitigating work-related bullying.