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Expanding the Content Domain of Workplace Aggression: A Three‐level Aggressor–target Taxonomy

International Journal of Management Reviews

Published online on

Abstract

Workplace aggression (WPA) has been largely considered to be a phenomenon involving individuals. However, higher‐level entities, such as groups and organizations, can also be aggressors (and targets). This aspect of WPA has not been given much scholarly attention and, even in cases where it has been studied, it has not been considered to be part of the WPA stream. By considering aggressors and targets at all three levels of analysis, the author attempts simultaneously to expand and integrate the WPA stream, draw attention to WPA involving higher‐level entities, and provide a more organization‐oriented (rather than individual‐oriented) perspective on WPA. This novel comprehensive perspective is provided through a taxonomy of nine aggressor–target combinations of WPA which can be grouped into three multilevel categories of WPA, i.e. lateral level WPA, upward level WPA, and downward level WPA. Implications for theory, research and practice of these conceptualizations are discussed.