Abstract

The aims of this study was to investigate the effect of workplace support and access to workplace counseling on the depression level of employees who are workplace bullying victims and then find cross-level interaction effects between individual and group factors. A multi-level analysis was conducted using data from 642 individuals who reported experiencing workplace bullying in the 2017 National Human Rights Commission survey. The findings indicate that a worker’s perceived safety of their workplace is negatively associated with depression levels. Additionally, higher perceived workplace support and access to workplace counseling were associated with lower depression levels. Lastly, a positive interaction effect was observed between access to workplace counseling and perceived workplace support in relation to depression levels. That is, higher access to workplace counseling increases the negative effect of workplace support on depression levels of employees. These results highlight the importance of creating protective factors such as a safe and supportive organizational culture to combat workplace bullying of coworkers or supervisors, and implementation of counseling and support services to assist victims in coping with workplace bullying and reducing depression symptoms.