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Affiliation
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Statistics Branch, Corporate Science, Engineering Analysis Directorate (CSEAD), Health and Safety Executive, Redgrave Court, Bootle, Liverpool L20 7HS, UK. |
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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Incidents of work-related violence (WRV) have increased over the years. These can be damaging to both individual psychological well-being and organizational performance. AIMS: To examine the prevalence and causes of customer-perpetrated WRV in Britain over a 12 year period. Demographic, work and perpetrator's personality characteristics were examined as predictors of WRV.
METHODS: Data from the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) across 2001-13 were filtered specifically to explore responses from victims of customer-perpetrated crime within the working population.
RESULTS: On average, 22% of all violent crimes committed by customers occurred in the workplace. Further analysis showed that differences in gender, age as well as managerial/supervisory duties, working hours, employment status, organizational size and occupation were significantly related to incidents of WRV. Perpetrators' personality characteristics were also perceived as predictors of WRV.
CONCLUSIONS: This paper provides an alternative approach for reporting customer-perpetrated WRV. Violence at work is considered a widespread problem within the organizational studies literature, which can lead to a variety of stress-related symptoms in affected workers. Based on the current study's findings, a theoretical model is proposed to help combat customer-perpetrated WRV, and as a basis for future research.
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Language: en |