Professor and Victim: Cyberbullying Targeting Professors in the Higher Education Workplace

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Weiss.pdf (518.18 KB)

Date

2021-03-04

Authors

Weiss, Adam

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Abstract

Colleges and universities increasingly depend on technology to facilitate communication and course delivery. As a consequence of this heightened technology usage, cyberbullying now occurs frequently on college and university campuses. College faculty often become victims of cyberbullying due to their visible and active roles as educators and academics. Traumatic cyberbullying incidents cause significant emotional and physical distress for faculty victims. As such, cyberbullying can drastically interfere with faculty’s work. The chapter discusses the various forms in which faculty experience cyberbullying in the higher education workplace. The chapter then identifies the perpetrators of this form of cyberbullying—specifically, students, fellow faculty members, administrators, and members of the general public. Next, the chapter sheds light on the negative psychological, professional, and physical consequences resulting from cyberbullying incidents. Finally, the chapter offers several policy suggestions to curtail cyberbullying on higher education campuses.

Description

Expected Findings: Cyberbullying in the workplace has developed into a serious issue on college and university campuses. In particular, faculty have now become regular targets of cyberbullying, which has affected faculty’s professional relationships, job satisfaction, and productivity (Cassidy, 2014; Hollis, 2015). The present chapter provides an overview of the many forms of cyberbullying affecting college faculty. In particular, the chapter discusses how students, fellow faculty members, higher education administrators, and the general public often target faculty with cyber aggression. Nevertheless, college administrators have several tools at their exposal to reduce current levels of cyberbullying and prevent future incidents. For this reason, the latter part of the chapter provides several possible solutions that college administrators might implement to make the higher education campus, both in its physical and virtual spaces, a more respectful workplace.

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Citation

Weiss, A. (2020). Professor and victim: cyberbullying targeting professors in the higher education workplace. In Ramos Salazar, L. (Ed.). Handbook of Research on Cyberbullying and Online Harassment in the Workplace. IGI Global.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11310/403

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2021 Faculty Research Poster Session and Research Fair