title: Exposure to negative acts and risk of turnover: a study of a register-based outcome among employees in three occupational groups.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether self-reported exposure to negative acts in the workplace (bullying and threats of violence) predicted turnover in three occupational groups (human service and sales workers, office workers and manual workers).
  
  
  METHODS
  Survey data on 2766 respondents were combined with data from a national labour force register to assess turnover. Mixed effects logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between self-reported exposure to negative acts at baseline and risk of turnover after a 1-year follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found no significant associations between exposure to negative acts (bullying and threats of violence) and risk of turnover. When participants were stratified by occupational group and analyses were adjusted for age, gender, tenure and psychosocial working conditions, we found that exposure to bullying predicted risk of turnover in office workers (OR 2.03, 95 % CI 1.05-3.90), but neither in human service and sales workers, nor in manual workers. The association in office workers lost statistical significance when additionally adjusted for depressive symptoms (OR 1.77, 95 % CI 0.90-3.49). However, in a sensitivity analysis in which we used a 2-year (instead of a 1-year) follow-up period the association between bullying and turnover remained statistically significant in office workers even after adjusting for depressive symptoms (OR 2.10, 95 % CI 1.17-3.76). We found no statistically significant associations between threats of violence and risk of turnover in the stratified analyses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Exposure to bullying predicted risk of turnover among office workers but not among human service and sales workers and among manual workers. Threats of violence were not associated with turnover in any occupational group.
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkalle 105, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark. tcl@nrcwe.dk.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Clausen
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkalle 105, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jørgen V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hogh
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkalle 105, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.|Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anne Helene
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Garde
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.|Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Persson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Paul Maurice
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Conway
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Matias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grynderup
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkalle 105, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.|Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Åse Marie
authors.initials: ÅM
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkalle 105, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.|Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.|Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Reiner
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rugulies
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D058445:Bullying / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003718:Denmark; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000523:psychology; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010563:Personnel Turnover / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012042:Registries; D057566:Self Report; D064450:Workplace Violence / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Bullying; Epidemiology; Longitudinal analysis; Register data; Threats of violence