workplace bullying in academia

{{main|Bullying|Workplace bullying}}

Bullying is the longstanding violence, physical or psychological, conducted by an individual or group and directed against an individual who is not able to defend himself in the actual situation, with a conscious desire to hurt, threaten, or frighten that individual or put him under stress.{{cite book |last1= Thompson |first1=David |last2= Arora |first2=Tiny|last3=Sharp |first3=Sonia |date=2002 |title=Bullying: Effective strategies for long-term improvement}} (Summaries [http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED471990 at Eric], [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1555882?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents at Jstor])

Workplace bullying ranges into the following categories.{{cite book |last=Rigby |first=Ken |date=2002 |title=New Perspectives on Bullying|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Jessica Kingsley Publishers|isbn=9781853028724|oclc=875667926}}

• Threat to professional status, such as, public professional humiliation, accusation of lack of effort and belittling.
• Threat to social status, such as, teasing and name calling.
• Isolation, such as, withholding information and preventing access to opportunities, such as training workshops, attendance and deadlines.
• Overwork, such as setting impossible deadlines and making unnecessary disruptions.
• Destabilization, for example, setting meaningless tasks, not giving credit where credit is due, removal from positions of authority, gaslighting.

Several aspects of academia lend themselves to the practice and discourage its reporting and mitigation, due to concerns of possible damage to the reputation of the institution. Its leadership is usually drawn from the ranks of faculty, most of whom have not received the management training that could enable an effective response to such situations.

There have been cases of tenured professors acting as perpetrators of academic bullying, leading to the dismissal of the perpetrators{{cite journal |last1=Cassell |first1=Macgorine |title=Bullying In Academe: Prevalent, Significant, and Incessant |journal=2010 IABR & ITLC Conference Proceedings |url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1072863.pdf |date=November 2011}} or of their targets.{{cite journal |last1=Egner |first1=Heike |last2=Uhlenwinkel |first2=Anke |title=Dismissal and public demotion of professors: An empirical analysis of structural commonalities in apparently different 'cases' (translated from the German article "Entlassung und öffentliche Degradierung von Professorinnen. Eine empirische Analyse struktureller Gemeinsamkeiten anscheinend unterschiedlicher "Fälle"") |journal=Beiträge zur Hochschulforschung |volume=43 |issue=1–2 |pages=62–84 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351283642 |date=May 2021}} Victims include the increasing number of adjunct professors as well as students, c.f. Bullying of students in higher education.

The generally decentralized nature of academic institutions can make it difficult for victims to seek recourse, and appeals to outside authority have been described as "the kiss of death."{{cite book|author1=Robert Cantwell|author2=Jill Scevak|title=An Academic Life: A Handbook for New Academics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iziJW_nAY7oC&pg=PA168|access-date=8 March 2011|date=August 2009|publisher=Australian Council for Educational Research|isbn=978-0-86431-908-1|page=168}}{{cite journal|last=Wilmshurst |first=Peter |title=Dishonesty in Medical Research |journal=The Medico-Legal Journal |year=2007 |volume=75 |issue=Pt 1 |pages=3–12 |doi=10.1258/rsmmlj.75.1.3 |pmid=17506338 |s2cid=26915448 |url=http://www.medico-legalsociety.org.uk/articles/dishonesty_in_medical_research.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521050439/http://www.medico-legalsociety.org.uk/articles/dishonesty_in_medical_research.pdf |archive-date=21 May 2013 }} Therefore, academics who are subject to bullying in workplace are often cautious about reporting any problems. Social media has recently been used to expose or allege bullying in academia anonymously.{{citation |url=http://pi-reviews.blogspot.com/ |title=Reveal bullying in academia}}

Although tenure and post-tenure review lead to interdepartmental evaluation, and all three culminate in an administrative decision, bullying is commonly a function of administrative input before or during the early stages of intradepartmental review. A series of publications in Nature emphasize the need for improving institutional reporting systems for academic bullying.{{cite journal |last1=Mahmoudi |first1=Morteza |title=Improve reporting systems for academic bullying |journal=Nature |volume=562 |issue=7728 |pages=494 |doi=10.1038/d41586-018-07154-x |pmid=30356195 |year=2018 |bibcode=2018Natur.562R.494M |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Nik-Zainal |first1=Serena |title=Bullying investigations need a code of conduct |journal=Nature |volume=565 |issue=7740 |pages=429 |doi=10.1038/d41586-019-00228-4 |pmid=30675047 |year=2019 |bibcode=2019Natur.565..429N |doi-access=free }}

Mobbing is endemic at universities because universities are a type of organization that encourages mobbing.Eve Seguin, "[https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/academic-mobbing-become-campus-tormentors/ Academic mobbing, or how to become campus tormentors]," in University Affairs/Affaires universitaires, 19 September 2016. Academic victims of bullying may also be particularly conflict-averse.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

Kenneth Westhues' study of mobbing in academia found that vulnerability was increased by personal differences such as being a foreigner or of a different sex; by working in a post-modern field such as music or literature; financial pressure; or having an aggressive superior. Other factors included envy, heresy and campus politics.{{citation |url=http://uv-net.uio.no/wpmu/hedda/2007/05/13/workplace-bullying-in-the-academic-world/ |title=Workplace Bullying in the Academic World? |date=13 May 2007 |publisher=Higher Education Development Association |access-date=5 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724185410/http://uv-net.uio.no/wpmu/hedda/2007/05/13/workplace-bullying-in-the-academic-world/ |archive-date=24 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}

Morteza Mahmoudi proposed some strategies to address academic bullying including mobbing.{{cite web |title=Academic bullying: Desperate for data and solutions |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/academic-bullying-desperate-data-and-solutions |website=Science Magazine}}{{cite web |title=You are not alone! |date=30 September 2020|url=https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/you-are-not-alone/}}{{cite journal |last1=Mahmoudi |first1=Morteza |title=A survivor's guide to academic bullying |journal=Nature Human Behaviour |volume=4 |issue=11 |pages=1091 |date=2020-08-31 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-00937-1 |pmid=32868883 |doi=10.1038/s41562-020-00937-1|s2cid=221403792 }}{{cite journal |last1=Mahmoudi |first1=Morteza |title=Academic bullying: How to be an ally |journal=Science |year=2021 |volume=373 |issue=6558 |page=974 |doi=10.1126/science.abl7492 |pmid=34446599 |bibcode=2021Sci...373..974M |s2cid=237308678 |doi-access=free }}{{cite book |last1=Mahmoudi |first1=Morteza |title=A Brief Guide to Academic Bullying |date=2022 |publisher=Jenny Stanford Publishing |isbn=9781003160342 |url=https://www.jennystanford.com/9781003160342/a-brief-guide-to-academic-bullying/}}{{cite journal |last1=Täuber |first1=Susanne |last2=Mahmoudi |first2=Morteza |title=How bullying becomes a career tool |journal=Nature Human Behaviour |date=2022 |volume=6 |issue=4 |page=475 |doi=10.1038/s41562-022-01311-z |pmid=35132170 |s2cid=246651521 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01311-z}} While potentially helpful for trainee targets of academic bullying, some of these same strategies can be appropriated by administrators or regular faculty members to greatly expand the scope of an existing academic mobbing campaign against a less powerful or popular colleague.

The bullying in this workplace has been described as somewhat more subtle than usual. Its recipients may be the target of unwanted physical contact, violence, obscene or loud language during meetings, be disparaged among their colleagues in venues they are not aware of, and face difficulties when seeking promotion. It may also be manifested by undue demands for compliance with regulations.{{cite journal|url=http://chronicle.com/article/Workplace-Mediators-Seek-a-/65815/|title=Workplace Mediators Seek a Role in Taming Faculty Bullies|journal=The Chronicle of Higher Education|access-date=9 March 2011|date=2010-06-08}}

These workplaces constitute what is known as "toxic research culture," encompassing a range of harmful practices such as bullying, harassment, poor employment terms, inadequate diversity and inclusion practices, breaches of research integrity, and the relentless pursuit of higher league table positions, H-indices, and impact factors. A particularly troubling manifestation is 'ghost authoring,' where senior researchers take undue credit for work primarily done by junior staff. These cultures are fostered by short-term contracts, inadequate salaries for early-career researchers, competitive work environments, and relentless pressure to publish. The core issue is a hierarchical structure that grants substantial power to senior researchers, creating a cycle where junior researchers must endure harsh conditions to advance their careers.{{Cite journal |last1=Rajakumar |first1=Hamrish Kumar |last2=Gaman |first2=Mihnea-Alexandru |last3=Puyana |first3=Juan C. |last4=Bonilla-Escobar |first4=Francisco J. |date=2024-07-09 |year=2024 |title=Transforming Toxic Research Cultures: Protecting the Future of Medical Students and Early Career Researchers – Part I |url=https://ijms.info/IJMS/article/view/2763 |journal=International Journal of Medical Students |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=128–132 |doi=10.5195/ijms.2024.2763 |issn=2076-6327|doi-access=free }}

The kinds of abusive behaviors in academic bullying cause serious and long-lasting effects on both the academic and personal lives of targets and their families.{{cite journal |last1=Mahmoudi |first1=Morteza |title=Academic bullies leave no trace |journal=BioImpacts |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=129–130 |date=2019 |doi=10.15171/bi.2019.17 |pmid=31508328 |pmc=6726746 |url=https://bi.tbzmed.ac.ir/Files/Inpress/bi-21803.pdf}} In addition, academic bullying behaviours can affect the progress of science.{{cite journal |last1=Mahmoudi |first1=Morteza |title=Academic bullying slows the evolution of science |journal=Nature Reviews Materials |date=2023 |volume=8 |issue=5 |pages=301–303 |doi=10.1038/s41578-023-00549-x |bibcode=2023NatRM...8..301M |s2cid=257249266 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41578-023-00549-x}}

Victims of academic mobbing may suffer from stress, depression and suicidal ideation as well as posttraumatic stress disorder. The psychological scars have been described as comparable to rape, and they may not heal for many years. Some cases end in suicide, although the precise prevalence of this outcome is not known.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

A 2008 study of the topic, conducted on the basis of a survey at a Canadian university, concluded that the practice had several unproductive costs, including increased employee turnover.{{cite journal|title=Workplace Bullying in Academia: A Canadian Study|author=McKay, R. Arnold, D. H. Fratzl, J. Thomas, R.|doi=10.1007/s10672-008-9073-3|volume=20|issue=2|journal=Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal|pages=77–100|year=2008|s2cid=155084423}}

Similarly to studies in general workplace bullying, incidence varies a lot depending on where and what definition of bullying is used. There is up to one quarter or one third of academics who declare they have been bullied in the past year. This is considerably higher compared to other workplaces, with 10-14% workers declaring having experienced bullying in the past year in the United States, but less than in healthcare, where a studies in 17 Greek hospitals reported that half of the doctors and nurses reported they had experienced bullying. Around 40% say they have witnessed or heard about bullying behaviors happening to someone else. One of the largest studies of bullying in universities, surveying 14,000 higher-education staff over 92 institutions in the United Kingdom, found the rate of bullying varied widely across institutions, from 2% to 19% of the staff at each university reporting being always or often bullied.{{cite journal |last1=Else |first1=H |title=Does science have a bullying problem? |journal=Nature |date=November 2018 |volume=563 |issue=7733 |pages=616–618 |doi=10.1038/d41586-018-07532-5 |pmid=30487619 |bibcode=2018Natur.563..616E |type=Feature news|doi-access=free }}

In 2008 the United Kingdom's University and College Union released the results of a survey taken among its 9,700 members.{{cite book|author1=Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Innovation|author2=Universities|author3=Science and Skills Committee|title=Students and universities: eleventh report of session 2008–09, Vol. 2: Oral and written evidence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDtmRVjshEUC&pg=PA531|access-date=8 March 2011|year=2009|publisher=The Stationery Office|isbn=978-0-215-54072-0|pages=531–532}} 51% of respondents said they had never been bullied, 16.7% that they had occasionally experienced it, and 6.7% that they were "always" or "often" subjected to bullying. The results varied by member institutions, with respondents from the University of East London reporting the highest incidence.

The Times Higher Education commissioned a survey in 2005 and received 843 responses.{{cite web|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=198392§ioncode=26|title=Bullying rife across campus|publisher=Times Higher Education|author=Anthea Lipsett|date=16 September 2005|access-date=8 March 2011}} Over 40% reported they had been bullied, with 33% reporting "unwanted physical contact" and 10% reporting physical violence; about 75% reported they were aware that co-workers had been bullied. The incidence rate found in this survey was higher than that usually found via internal polling (12 to 24 percent).

According to a survey conducted in 2021 by NOS op 3 among science PhD candidates enrolled at universities across the Netherlands, the most common forms of bullying included sexual misconduct, discrimination and violations of scientific standards. Approximately 50% of the PhD students interviewed, whose number was approximately a hundred, reported that they had experienced inappropriate behavior in terms of unreasonable workload, inability to ask critical questions, teasing, intimidation, social exclusion and not receiving credits for their work. Among international students, the most common experiences included sexism, racism and sexually inappropriate behavior. One of the identified reasons for the unreasonable workload and the unhealthy working conditions of PhD students include competition for research funds (primarily provided by the largest subsidizer, the Dutch Research Council) among professors running a research group. Research conducted by the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions and the Dutch Research School of Philosophy found similar results to those reported by NOS op 3 with the conclusion of the latter being that "58% of PhD students had an increased risk of developing a psychiatric condition like depression" or burnout.{{cite video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdGuqi9jmWI&ab_channel=NOSop3|title=Kapot gemaakt door je eigen universiteit|trans-title=Destroyed by your own university|publisher=NOS op 3|date=13 July 2021|language=nl|accessdate=24 July 2021}}

Author C. K. Gunsalus describes the problem as "low incidence, high severity", analogous to research misconduct.{{cite book|author=C. K. Gunsalus|title=The college administrator's survival guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kqj3WPppDXcC&pg=PA124|access-date=7 March 2011|date=30 September 2006|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-02315-4|pages=124–125}} She identifies the aggressors' misuse of the concepts of academic freedom and collegiality as a commonly used strategy.

University bullying policies and processes are open to misuse, however, and the AAUP notes that faculty who dissent on academic governance issues or who complain about workplace inequities may become the target for retaliatory bullying complaints aimed to silence unpopular views.{{cite web |title=AAUP Collegiality Report |url=https://www.aaup.org/report/collegiality-criterion-faculty-evaluation |website=American Association of University Professors |date=26 July 2006 |access-date=29 November 2018}}

{{Main|Bullying in medicine}}

In a 2005 British study, around 35% of medical students reported having been bullied. Around one in four of the 1,000 students questioned said they had been bullied by a doctor, while one in six had been bullied by a nurse. Manifestations of bullying included:{{cite news|last=Curtis|first=Polly|title=Medical students complain of bullying |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/may/04/highereducation.science |access-date=9 October 2011 |newspaper=The Guardian|date=4 May 2005}}

• being humiliated by teachers in front of patients
• being victimised for not having come from a "medical family"
• being put under pressure to carry out a procedure without supervision.

In 2019, The Lancet journal proposed a need for establishment of a global committee on academic behaviour ethics to consider academic bullying reports in a robust, fair, and unbiased manner.{{cite journal |last1=Mahmoudi |first1=Morteza |title=The need for a global committee on academic behaviour ethics |journal=The Lancet |volume=394 |issue=10207 |pages=1410 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31361-3 |year=2019 |pmid=31631849 |doi-access=free }}

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|

• Academic dishonesty
• Bullying of students in higher education
• Bullying in medicine
• Bullying in teaching
• Campus rape
• Hazing
• Mobbing
• Ragging
• School bullying
• Scientific misconduct
• Sexual harassment in education
• Sham peer review
• Student prank
• Workplace bullying
• Workplace incivility

}}

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• {{cite book |editor-last1=Hollis |editor-first1=Leah P. |title=The Coercive Community College: Bullying and Its Costly Impact on the Mission to Serve Underrepresented Populations |date=2016 |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing |location=Bingley, U.K. |isbn=9781786355980|oclc=946605641}}
• {{cite book|editor-last=Lester|editor-first=Jaime|title=Workplace Bullying in Higher Education|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780415519649|oclc=768171467}}
• {{cite book|last=Riley|first=Stephen|title=Barsteadworth College – How Workplace Bullies Get Away With It|year=2010|publisher=Chipmunka Publishing|location=London|isbn=978-1-84991-182-5|url=http://www.a-n.co.uk/interface/whatson/single/649919/1}}
• {{cite book|last=Towler|first=John|title=Chaos and Academic Mobbing – The True Story of The Renison Affair|year=2011}}
• {{cite book|last=Twale|first=Darla J.|title=Faculty Incivility: The Rise of the Academic Bully Culture and What to Do About It|year=2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-19766-0|url=http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470197668.html}}
• {{cite book|last=Westhues|first=Kenneth|title=The Envy of Excellence: Administrative Mobbing of High-Achieving Professors|year=2004|publisher=Edwin Mellen Press|location=Lewiston, New York|url=http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=6363&pc=9 |isbn= 978-0-7734-5979-3 |author-link=Kenneth Westhues}}

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• {{cite journal |last1=Hollis |first1=Leah P. |title=Bully University? The Cost of Workplace Bullying and Employee Disengagement in American Higher Education |journal=SAGE Open |date=1 April 2015 |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=215824401558999 |doi=10.1177/2158244015589997|doi-access=free }}
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• {{cite journal |last1=Misawa |first1=Mitsunori |title=Racist and Homophobic Bullying in Adulthood: Narratives from Gay Men of Color in Higher Education |journal=New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development |date=January 2010 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=7–23 |doi=10.1002/nha3.10370 }}
• Savva, C. and Alexandrou, A., The impact of bullying in further and higher education – Bullying at Work research and update conference 1998
• {{cite journal |last1=Simpson |first1=Ruth |last2=Cohen |first2=Claire |title=Dangerous Work: The Gendered Nature of Bullying in the Context of Higher Education |journal=Gender, Work and Organization |date=March 2004 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=163–186 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0432.2004.00227.x }}
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• Twale D [http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/68/04701976/0470197668.pdf Civility, Incivility, Bullying, and Mobbing in Academe]
• Karim N [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/bullying-in-universities-it-exists-1869267.html Bullying in Universities: It exists] The Independent on Sunday 15 January 2010
• Westhues K [https://web.archive.org/web/20110812072428/http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/~kwesthue/mobbing.htm Workplace Mobbing in Academe]
• Albrecht [http://www.antimobbing.eu Anti-Mobbing Help for Scientists]
• Borthakur & Crockett [https://instituteofworkplacebullyingresources.ca/surviving-academic-bullying-stories-and-resources-for-targets/ Surviving-academic-bullying-stories-and-resources-for-targets]

{{Bullying}}

{{abuse}}

Category:Harassment and bullying

Category:Academic culture

Category:Education issues

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