Survey evidence on the predictors of workplace violence and its negative effects on victims

What is it about?

In this article, the authors analyze data from a a random telephone survey of US workers to learn more about two things: 1) What personal, organizational, and occupational factors are associated with the experience of workplace violence, and 2) what are the consequences of workplace violence for victims in terms of a variety of psychological and emotional outcomes?

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Why is it important?

Workplace violence is an important issue but there are many unanswered questions. This article helps create a statistical portrait of workplace violence. This includes estimating the frequency of workplace violence and finding that workplace violence is hard to predict. But even though being attacked or threatened at work is rare and hard to predict, the survey evidence reveals clear consequences: experiencing violence is associated with a significantly higher likelihood of worrying about violence, consideration of job changes, increased distress, reduced satisfaction and productivity, and a greater likelihood of bringing weapons to work.