Workplace bullying in Japan: the prevalence and consequences

Introduction: Workplace bullying has not yet fully been investigated in a large scale epidemiologic study in Japan.  

Objectives: The aim was to examine the prevalence of workplace bullying and its cross-sectional association with psychological distress, PTSD symptoms, and work performance in a sample of civil servants in Japan.  

Methods: 2,194 civil servants in the Kanto region were recruited through labor union and completed a mailed questionnaire including workplace bullying (Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised: NAQ-R), psychological distress (K6), PTSD symptoms (The Impact of Event Scale - Revised: IES-R), work performance (WHO Health Performance Questionnaire: HPQ), worksite social support, and demographic and occupational characteristics (response rate, 46.7%).  We defined the exposed group as reporting at least one negative act weekly or more during the previous six months, using the Leymann’s definition.  Logistic regression analysis and ANOVA/ANCOVA were used.  Results: In our sample, about 9% experienced bullying at the workplace for the past six months.  Percentage of people who were not married was higher and overtime in the past month was longer among the exposed group than non-exposed group (p <.05).  After adjustment for demographic and occupational covariates and worksite social support, workplace bullying were associated with 4 -5 times higher the risk of psychological distress, and 8 times for PTSD symptoms (p <.001).  Also, the exposed group had lower HPQ scores compared to the non-exposed group.  

Conclusions: Prevalence of workplace bullying in this sample has relatively higher than other countries (e.g., Norway or Denmark), when using NAQ-R and same definition.  Workplace bullying may be a strong risk factor for psychological distress and PTSD symptoms and associated with low work performance among Japanese workers in the public sector.