Bullying in the workplace refers to a series of negative actions directed toward an employee that escalates and lasts a long time. This study aims to acquire a deeper understanding of workplace bullying and develop an integrative model for the escalation process of this phenomenon by synthesizing existing qualitative studies and clarifying its pattern and elements. The systematic searching of relevant articles published in Scopus listed journals between 1990 and 2020 yielded 67 articles for detailed review, and 25 studies that have the main focus on the escalation process were included. The included articles were analysed using thematic analysis. We identified escalating or spiralling covert and overt patterns of workplace bullying. The analysis revealed six themes or elements that generated a cycle of helplessness trial, referred to as an integrated model and the escalation of these cycles leave the victim in a learned state of helplessness. The study will enrich the literature on the workplace bullying process and support management in understanding the escalation pattern to frame the intervention strategies effectively. So far, there are no attempts to integrate and assimilate the knowledge on the escalation process derived from qualitative studies.

工作场所的欺凌是指针对员工的一系列负面行为，这些行为会升级并持续很长时间。本研究旨在通过综合现有的定性研究并阐明其模式和要素，加深对工作场所欺凌的理解，并为这种现象的升级过程开发一个综合模型。对 1990 年至 2020 年间在 Scopus 收录的期刊上发表的相关文章进行系统搜索，得出 67 篇文章供详细审查，其中包括 25 项主要关注升级过程的研究。使用主题分析对包含的文章进行分析。我们确定了工作场所欺凌的隐蔽和公开模式不断升级或螺旋式上升。分析揭示了产生无助试验循环的六个主题或要素，被称为综合模型，这些周期的升级使受害者处于习得性无助状态。该研究将丰富有关工作场所欺凌过程的文献，并支持管理层了解升级模式以有效制定干预策略。到目前为止，还没有尝试整合和吸收定性研究中关于升级过程的知识。