Respect in the workplace : an evaluation of a short online intervention program

Abstract

Workplace abuse has become an unfortunate phenomenon in today’s workplaces (Cortina, Magley, & Williams, 2001; Francis, Kelloway, Gatien, & Wentzell, 2008). In an attempt to evaluate a short online intervention program targeted at reducing workplace abuse, this study used a wait-list control design and surveyed employees at three time points. One hundred and sixty-five (N=165) employees in a long-term care facility participated in this study. Multilevel repeated measures regressions revealed that the training did not significantly lower incivility or stress, nor did it increase recognition or self-efficacy. There were, however, increased reports of civility and job satisfaction from T1 to T3 for the intervention group in comparison to the wait-list control group. Given the limitations of this study, it is expected that this is an underestimate of the effect of training. Finding partial support for the hypotheses associated with this intervention, this study has implications for organizations and future research.