Workplace bullying has negative effects on targets' well-being. Researchers are increasingly aware that bullying occurs within social contexts and is often witnessed by others in the organization, such as bystanders. However, we know little about how bystanders' responses influence outcomes for those exposed to bullying. In this multilevel study, involving 572 employees within 55 work groups, we explore how bystanders' passive (e.g., inaction) and active constructive (e.g., defending the target) responses to bullying can affect targets' somatic symptoms and work engagement. Drawing from Job-Demands Resource theory, we propose that passive and active constructive bystanders can worsen or buffer bullying's effects on these well-being outcomes, respectively. Specifically, we propose that passive bystanders can act as further demands for targets to cope with, leading to demand accumulation, while active constructive bystanders can act as resources. We found that exposure to workplace bullying was associated with somatic symptoms and low work engagement. The number of passive and active constructive bystanders in the target's work group moderated the relationship between exposure to bullying and engagement. In particular, with larger numbers of passive bystanders, the negative relationship of bullying exposure with engagement strengthened. Conversely, with a higher number of active constructive bystanders, bullying's negative relationship with engagement was mitigated. However, there was no moderating effect for somatic symptoms. This study contributes as the first empirical test of whether bystander behavior shapes the consequences of bullying for targets and provides a novel, group-level perspective to the bullying bystander literature. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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旁观者的行为有影响吗？小组中被动和主动的旁观者如何缓和欺凌暴露的影响。

工作场所欺凌对目标的幸福有负面影响。研究人员越来越意识到欺凌发生在社会环境中，并且经常被组织中的其他人（例如旁观者）目睹。然而，我们对旁观者的反应如何影响那些遭受欺凌的人的结果知之甚少。在这项涉及 55 个工作组中的 572 名员工的多层次研究中，我们探讨了旁观者对欺凌的被动（例如，不作为）和积极的建设性（例如，保护目标）反应如何影响目标的躯体症状和工作投入。根据工作需求资源理论，我们提出被动和主动的建设性旁观者可以分别恶化或缓冲欺凌对这些幸福结果的影响。具体来说，我们提出，被动的旁观者可以作为目标应对的进一步需求，导致需求积累，而积极的建设性旁观者可以作为资源。我们发现，暴露于工作场所欺凌与躯体症状和工作参与度低有关。目标工作组中被动和积极的建设性旁观者的数量调节了欺凌暴露与参与之间的关系。特别是，随着更多的被动旁观者，欺凌暴露与参与的负面关系加强。相反，随着积极的建设性旁观者数量的增加，欺凌与参与的负面关系得到缓解。然而，对躯体症状没有缓解作用。这项研究有助于作为第一个实证检验旁观者行为是否会影响目标欺凌的后果，并为欺凌旁观者文献提供一个新颖的、群体层面的视角。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2022 APA，保留所有权利）。