MOBBING BEHAVIOR: A STUDY ON HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS

Öz

This study investigates the issue that whether there is a gender-based difference in mobbing behaviors. Research data was collected from the employees of health care providers in the Province of Kilis. Data was collected by convenience sampling method through face to face interviews with a total of 200 employees. Five dimensional LIPT Questionnaire (Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror) evaluation scale taken as the basis, which was developed by Leymann (1996) and adopted to Turkish by Avci & Kaya (2010). The 5 point Likert scale was used in the questionnaire and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the 5 dimensions was found as 0.81. This coefficient is acceptable according to Tavakol & Dennick (2011, 54). SPSS 21.0 software was used in the analysis of data collected in the study. The median value of 3 was taken into account as the test value. In this study, frequency analysis, factor analysis, and t-test were carried out in order to determine whether the mobbing behavior differs depending on the gender of the healthcare professionals. Conducting the study only on the healthcare professionals working in the health care providers in the Province of Kilis may be seen as a significant limitation. It was assumed that the participants of the survey have answered the questions intimately. In the study, the degree of mobbing experienced by healthcare professionals on the basis of gender was investigated in the study in a total of five dimensions (attacks on social relationships, reputation attacks, attacks on self-expression, attacks on the quality of working life and attacks on private life and personal affairs); and differences among the mobbing behaviors were tried to be identified. It was found in the study that only the attacks on self-expression have a significant difference depending on the gender, among the five dimensions representing mobbing behaviors. Looking at the arithmetic mean of this dimension scale, it can be stated that female employees are being exposed to attacks on self-expression (2.56) more than male employees. This supports the other findings in the literature (Ofluoglu & Somunoglu (2012), Rodriguez et al., (2012), Arpacioglu Atman (2012), Commission Report, (2011), Somunoglu et al. (2013), Yildirim & Yildirim (2007), Tetik, (2010), Kingma, (2001), Unal & Karaahmet (2008), Carneroa et al. (2010), Bayrak Kok (2006), Erturk (2013)). Finding the average value of this dimension less than the limit (3.00) that was accepted as the test value can be considered as a positive outcome in terms of the relationships between the employees and for the institution. On the other hand, no significant difference was found in the attacks on social relationships, reputation attacks, attacks on the quality of working life and attacks on private life and personal affairs dimensions of the mobbing behaviors in the study. On the other hand, it can be stated that females are being exposed the mobbing behavior more than males, since the averages of the scales were higher in females in the dimensions of attacks on social relationships, reputation attacks, attacks on the self-expression and attacks on private life and personal affairs. In this regard, looking at the overall findings of the study and considering the fact that only 1 of the 5 hypothesis holds true, it can be said that the mobbing behavior does not differ significantly according to gender. This result is also supported by the studies of Acar & Dundar (2008), Gul& Ozcan (2011), Kaya, Ahi & Tabak (2012), Kose & Uysal (2010), and Dikmetas et al. (2011). It can be recommended in this context that administrators should implement policies and practices that take the gender differences into account, management should be fair and impartial, should give opportunity to employees according to their abilities and performances, should care about the social and private lives of their employees, and should avoid the practices that may harm their reputations in order to reduce the mobbing behavior arising from the gender differences in their institutions. The managers should avoid all kinds of expressions and behaviors that may have a negative impact on gender perception and create a belief in employees to manage the process together in this practice

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Mobbing, Sex, Healthcare Professionals

YILDIRMA (MOBBİNG) DAVRANIŞI: SAĞLIK ÇALIŞANLARI ÜZERİNDE BİR ARAŞTIRMA

Öz

Bu çalışmada yıldırma (mobbing) davranışlarının cinsiyet temelinde bir farklılık gösterip göstermediği konusu araştırılmıştır. Araştırma verileri Kilis ilinde sağlık alanında faaliyet gösteren kurumların çalışanlarından toplanmıştır. Çalışmada kolayda örnekleme yöntemi ile 200 sağlık çalışanına Leymann (1996) tarafından geliştirilen Psikolojik Terör Ölçeği anketi uygulanmıştır. Ankette 5’li likert ölçeği kullanılmış ve veriler SPSS ile analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmada; sağlık çalışanlarının toplamda beş boyutta (sosyal ilişkilere yönelik saldırılar, itibara yönelik saldırılar, çalışanın kendini göstermesine ilişkin saldırılar, çalışma yaşam kalitesine yönelik saldırılar ve özel yaşam ve kişisel unsurlara yönelik saldırılar) cinsiyet temelinde ne derecede yıldırma davranışlarına maruz kaldığı ve yıldırma davranışları açısından birbirilerinden ne derecede ayrıştığı belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgulardan çalışanların cinsiyet temelinde; sosyal ilişkilere yönelik saldırılar, itibara yönelik saldırılar ve özel yaşam ve kişisel unsurlara yönelik saldırılar boyutlarında anlamlı bir farklılık gözlenmezken, çalışma yaşam kalitesine yönelik saldırılar boyutunda kısmen anlamlı ve kendini göstermeye yönelik saldırı boyutunda ise anlamlı bir farklılık olduğu tespit edilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Yıldırma, Cinsiyet, Sağlık Çalışanları