The Workplace Bullying affecting Work Efficiency among Teacher and Educational Personnel, Eastern Economic Corridor Region, Thailand

Abstract

The study aimed to study the personal, work factors and workplace bullying affecting the work performance of teachers and educational personnel. The collected data by questionnaires among 300 teachers in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) of Thailand. The research instrument passed the validity test with a value between 0.67-1.00 and the reliability values ​​of workplace bullying and job efficiency were 0.776 and 0.831, respectively. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage and univariate and multivariate logistic regression with statistical significance set at p<.05. The results of the study found that 68.3 % of teachers had been bullied at work by their supervisors or colleagues. Teachers had job efficiency higher than the median score of 51.0 % (median = 65.0, mean = 66.0, and full score = 88.0). The results of the multivariate analysis found that WB of teachers had a statistically significant effect on job efficiency (OR = 1.72; 95%CI = 1.16-2.78), when controlling factors such as gender, status, education level, and overtime. However, important confounding factors were found that gender, with females having a 2.02-fold lower risk of job efficiency than males (95%CI = 1.23-3.32). Conclusions: Most teachers have experienced bullying incidents at work and this has resulted in decreased job efficiency, with female teachers experiencing a higher decrease in work performance than males. Discussions: School administrators should prioritize efforts to reduce WB, such as establishing equality policies and expressing opinions among teachers and other educational personnel, accepting each other's opinions, creating psychological empowerment programs, allocating work according to people's abilities, and continuing to create a good organizational culture.