Workplace aggression: the effects of harassment on job burnout and turnover intentions

Abstract

This article analyses the impact of harassment on job burnout and turnover intentions among a large sample of hospital nurses in Britain. It compares the effects of insider-initiated harassment from managers and colleagues with outsider-initiated harassment from patients and their relatives. The article also examines the effect of ethnicity and the impact of effective anti-harassment policies on job burnout and quit intentions. Results suggest firstly, that the insider or outsider characteristics of the perpetrator do help to shape the consequences of harassment for nurses and secondly, that effective anti-harassment policies do reduce turnover intentions, particularly for minority ethnic nurses.