Effects of Workplace Violence on Women’s Psychosocial Functioning in Ethiopia: Emotional Demand and Social Relations at Civil Service Sectors in Focus

Abstract

Workplace violence is a serious public problem affecting millions of women employees each year throughout the world. Researchers have established the prevalence, nature, and the degree of this violence; however, less is known about the effect of workplace violence on women’s psychosocial functioning. This research addresses this knowledge gap by examining (a) the relationship between sociodemographic variables and workplace violence, (b) the association between sociodemographic variable and emotional labor, and (c) the effects of workplace violence on emotional demand and social relation. This research draws on a sample of women (n = 201) from Dabat district’s civil service sectors, derived using systematic and proportionally stratified simple random sampling techniques. Data were analyzed using univariate analysis, post hoc Dunnett test, and binary logistic regression. Results show that workplace violence affected women employees without the discrimination of baseline variables. However, single women (16.43 [±2.91]) who have bachelor degree and above (16.88 [±2.19]) experienced more workplace violence by managers and colleagues when compared to other sociodemographic variables. Workplace violence mostly made women employees show their emotions to customers match with what they truly feel. From respondents, unmarried women and above degree holders had more likely to show their emotions to the customers directly (unadjusted odds ratio [UOR] = 5.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [5.29, 6.25]; adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 4.88, 95% CI = [4.67, 5.23]), arguably engaging in less emotional dissonance and high emotional labor. Sixty-one percent of respondents were also forced to accept others’ points: ideas, concern, and feeling without believing in those views. From these findings, we argue that the workplace violence that women employees experience enables a wave of visible conflict and tension as they had reflected their internal feelings to the clients, coworkers, and managers, and if the women workers have had miscommunication with managers at workplace, it will endanger the institutions to accomplish day-to-day activities.