Abstract
This thesis is concerned with perceptions of bullying. It examines the constructs associated with the social representation of bullying within the police service, and the social psychological processes and factors influencing the likelihood that individual officers will share such representations. The work is framed within the social psychological theories of Social Identity Theory (SIT) (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) and Social Representations Theory (SRT) (Moscovici, 1961,1984). The research comprised two studies. Study one used an innovative twist on the qualitative multiple sort procedure to establish the constructs of bullying used within the police service. Seventeen participants drawn from civilian support staff, uniformed and cid officers used themes based on issues of context, power and the type of behaviour (personal or task directed) in their evaluations of bullying. Departmental differences were noted in the interpretational strategies used. Study two was designed to ascertain the relative importance of the constructs, identified by study one, to the constabulary’s SR of bullying and the degree to which differences in sharing such SRs could be explained by identification factors. The manipulation scenario, which formed part of the questionnaire design, provided support for the effect of type of behaviour on the SR factor of acceptability and common-ness, but the construct of power, as represented by rank and authority, produced a more complex result, with an interaction occurring between the two. There were significant differences between high and low identifiers and department in the degree to which respondents concurred with the constabulary’s SR of bullying.