This paper examines the views of human resource professionals (HRPs) and employee representatives on joking behaviours and the potential link to workplace bullying in Australia. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 HRPs and five employee (union) representatives. Contextual factors stemming from Australian culture and historic characteristics of work in this country are discussed. The findings indicate that the legal framework – specifically, the definition of bullying and related legislation such as health and safety laws and equal employment opportunity legislation – is key for HRPs in establishing whether joking behaviours transgress into bullying. Implications for HRPs including ‘boundary’ management of joking behaviours are discussed and some ideas for future research are presented.

中文翻译：

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从澳大利亚人力资源专业人士的角度看笑话行为和欺凌行为

本文探讨了人力资源专业人士 (HRP) 和员工代表对开玩笑行为的看法，以及与澳大利亚工作场所欺凌的潜在联系。对 10 名 HRP 和 5 名员工（工会）代表进行了个人半结构化访谈。讨论了源自澳大利亚文化的背景因素和该国工作的历史特征。调查结果表明，法律框架——特别是欺凌的定义和相关立法，如健康和安全法以及平等就业机会立法——是 HRP 确定开玩笑行为是否构成欺凌的关键。讨论了对 HRP 的影响，包括对开玩笑行为的“边界”管理，并提出了一些未来研究的想法。