Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

Understanding Employees' Behavioral Reactions To Aggression In Organizations, Marie Mitchell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore employees' behavioral reactions to the perceived aggression of others. Perceived aggression is defined as behavior that is perceived to be intentionally harmful by the intended target. A typology is developed that identifies two primary dimensions of behavioral reaction: (1) the form of the behavior (aggression/non-aggression) and (2) the direction of the behavior (toward the source of the harm/not toward the source of the harm). Based on these dimensions, the typology produces four categories of behavioral reactions: retaliatory aggression, displaced aggression, constructive problem-solving, and withdrawal. A model is then presented, which identifies various …