The Determinants of Workplace Intergroup Aggression

Ng, Mei Kei (2022) The Determinants of Workplace Intergroup Aggression. Masters thesis, Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Workplace aggression refers to behaviours that harm others within the workplace and has been linked to various negative consequences in past studies. However, despite the widespread knowledge on the consequences, aggressive incidents within the workplace continue to be a cause of concern even in Malaysia. As workplaces are becoming increasingly team-focused, workplace aggression also evolved whereby aggressive behaviours no longer involve two individuals but also could occur among two or more different groups of people, known as workplace intergroup aggression. Upon review of existing research on workplace aggression, there is lack of research on the influence of third-party instigators on workplace aggression. Past studies have also been found to be lacking in research for the role of group members and group characteristics in workplace intergroup aggression. Furthermore, there is also lack of research on the role of in-group protective motivation on workplace intergroup aggression. Hence, this study looks at workplace intergroup aggression through the aforementioned points of view based on the political view of decision-making theory, stress and social support coping theory, social influence theory, and the Intergroup Emotions Theory (IET). In this research, the researcher investigates the relationships between instigator power, perceived threat to in-group, group-based fear, need for reassurance, conformity to in-group decision, motivation to protect in-group and participation in intergroup aggression. Besides, the effects of group identification, group cohesion, and group norms towards aggression as moderators are also studied. Data was collected from 395 participants via online self-administered questionnaire and analysed using both the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Partial Least Square – Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Based on the statistical findings, this research concluded that the direct relationships between instigator power, perceived threat to in-group, group-based fear, need for reassurance, motivation to protect in-group and participation in intergroup aggression are significantly supported, whereas the relationship between conformity to in-group decision and participation in intergroup aggression is not significantly supported. In terms of mediation analysis, all the mediation hypotheses are found to be significantly supported. On the other hand, all the moderator hypotheses are found to be not significantly supported.This study contributed to the theoretical knowledge by providing insight into the role of third-party power on the participation of intergroup aggression, the supportive role of group members in the decision-making process, and the role of protection motivation towards the in-group in the phenomenon of intergroup aggression. Moreover, this study also provided managerial implications such as providing the upper management with an insight into the dangers of severe power imbalance within the organisation, the importance of group norms in the development of intergroup aggression, and obedient employees not indicative of blind followers. In terms of limitations and future recommendations, future studies can choose to examine the current model through rational cognitive processes, investigate the impact of actual instigator power by distributing the power questionnaire to the authority figures, and use a sample from individualistic countries.