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The changing role of the nation-state and regulation: Workplace bullying legislation in The Netherlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Premilla D’Cruz ,
Roelie Mulder ,
Ernesto Noronha ,
Niels Beerepoot  and
Slawek Magala
Premilla D’Cruz*
Affiliation:
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India
Roelie Mulder
Affiliation:
Zeeland County Council, The Netherlands
Ernesto Noronha
Affiliation:
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India
Niels Beerepoot
Affiliation:
Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Slawek Magala
Affiliation:
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, The Netherlands
*
Premilla D’Cruz, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad 380015, Gujarat, India. Email: pdcruz@iima.ac.in
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Abstract

Workplace bullying literature has focused mainly on actions of individual targets of mistreatment, undertaken to address the problem, and on analyses of the effectiveness of responses. Less attention has been paid to the efficacy of state regulation in establishing a climate of prevention as well as redress. We examine the role of the Dutch Working Conditions Act as a means of mitigating workplace bullying from the perspective of legislative intention, processes and outcomes. Semi-structured interviews with stakeholders involved in creating, influencing and implementing the Act are analysed thematically to highlight how contextual, employer and phenomenon-specific factors affect the effectiveness of legislation with regard to workplace bullying. The findings indicate that state involvement, organisational commitment and collective action are all important contributors in reducing workplace bullying, but that even in the context of neoliberalism, the role of the nation-state is of critical importance, notwithstanding initiatives by employers.

Keywords

J58J78J81M54Anti-bullying legislationcopingDutch Working Conditions Actlabour inspectorsneoliberalismstatetargetsunions
Type
Job quality and security: do laws work?
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 30 , Issue 1: Symposia: Post-Crisis Rebuilding: Job Quality, Job Security and the Law , March 2019 , pp. 77 - 98
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2019

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