GENDERED COPING RESPONSE OF TARGETS TO WORKPLACE BULLYING WITH ROLE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: A MODERATED MODERATION MODEL

DOI: https://doie.org/10.10399/ABPI.2025656859

Authors:

Levia and Gurvinder Kaur*

Keywords:

Workplace Bullying, Coping Response, Emotional Intelligence, Gender, Exit, Voice

Abstract:

The study aims to understand the reactance of targets to workplace bullying with respect to active coping response of exit and voice using moderated moderation, emotional intelligence and gender as the two moderators. With the integration of reactance theory and gender socialization (identity theory), the study was carried on 206 junior employees working in Indian IT sector and identified as targets to workplace bullying. The study was conducted in two phases. It was found that people with higher emotional intelligence preferred exit over voice. Also, males with higher emotional intelligence preferred exit as a coping response and females with high emotional intelligence chose to raise voice, implicating stronger identification to their gender identities. The research finds number of theoretical contributions particularly focusing on integration of two theories and is rare attempt of employing moderated moderation. With certain managerial implications, the study concludes with the understanding of how gender identity brings significant change in choosing coping response to workplace bullying.

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