Workplace Harassment Interventions and Labour Process Theory: A Critical Realist Synthesis of the Literature

Abstract

Workplace harassment, from a labour process theoretic perspective, is a consequence of the convergence of several historical trends that affect the way work is organized under contemporary capitalism. On this view, interventions such as communication skills training, complaint procedures, and workplace policies have limited chance of eliminating harassment in the workplace. However, there is minimal research identifying, testing, and refining the theories accounting for how and why particular interventions work and under what circumstances. Our critical realist evaluation of the workplace harassment intervention literature responds to this gap. The mid-range theory of workplace harassment interventions presented in this article derives from the synthesized literature, augmented by Habermasian theory of social transformation to elaborate intervention mechanisms as lifeworld impulses. The provisional propositions of the mid-range theory are offered to inspire their empirical testing for the theory’s further refinement.