# Relationship Between Personality Traits and Workplace Bullying Victims in Saudi Arabia

## TL;DR

This study explores how personality traits relate to being a victim of workplace bullying in Saudi Arabia, finding that traits like conscientiousness and openness are linked to higher bullying risk.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into the relationship between specific personality traits and workplace bullying victimization in the Saudi Arabian context.

## Key findings

- Personal-related bullying, especially disregard of opinion, was more common than work-related bullying.
- Conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experience were major personality traits among victims.
- Neuroticism and openness showed positive correlations with bullying, while conscientiousness and agreeableness showed negative correlations.

## Abstract

Background

Workplace bullying is persistent aggressive behavior, including verbal or physical abuse, exhibited in a working environment. The impact of workplace bullying in any industry leads to negative outcomes in multiple dimensions, such as issues with mental health, problems with physical health, and a reduction in productivity in the workplace. This study aims to measure the relationship between personality traits and workplace bullying victims. Moreover, it explores how personality traits predict being a victim of workplace bullying.

Methodology

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 625 participants from various regions of Saudi Arabia. Data was collected using a self-administered survey, which included sociodemographic questions, the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R) for bullying assessment, and the Big Five Personality Inventory (BFI-10) for personality trait assessment. The statistical analysis encompassed descriptive statistics and inferential tests such as the correlation test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis test. These analyses were conducted using the SPSS software version 27.0.1 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).

Results

Personal-related bullying was more prevalent compared to work-related bullying, particularly “facing disregard of opinion” was the most frequent type of bullying. Moreover, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experience were demonstrated as major self-perceived personality traits among participants. Some sociodemographic factors were reported to be significantly associated with both bullying and personality trait scores. Personality traits such as conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extraversion were adversely correlated while openness to experience and neuroticism were positively correlated with bullying.

Conclusions

Our study illustrates the current prevalence of workplace bullying in Saudi Arabia and its impact on participants’ mental health and productivity. We identified a significant correlation between self-perceived personality traits and the risk of experiencing workplace bullying. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers, enabling them to develop targeted interventions to reduce bullying within work settings in Saudi Arabia.