Cyberbullying at work: The mediating role of optimism between cyberbullying and job outcomes

• We investigated the mediating role of optimism on job outcomes in adult employees.
• Cyberbullying is negatively associated with job satisfaction.
• Cyberbullying is positively associated with stress.
• Optimism acts as a protective factor against the negative impact of cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying has become a prominent concern as technological advancements provide bullies with an alternative medium through which they can target their victims. Recently, this phenomenon has been investigated among adult populations with findings indicating that cyberbullied employees suffered great strain and poor job outcomes. Despite important recent findings in this area, not much is known about the underlying mechanism responsible for cyberbullying among adult workers. The aim of this study was to investigate the mediating role of optimism in the relationship between cyberbullying and job related outcomes. To achieve this, an online survey was conducted with white collar employees in Australia. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to investigate the relationships between cyberbullying and job outcomes. Results indicated that optimism partially mediated the relationships between cyberbullying and stress as well as job satisfaction. Implications and future directions were discussed.