Abstract
While the concept of emotional blackmail originated in the U.S., the measures were developed elsewhere. This research aimed to validate the Workplace Emotional Blackmail Scale (WEBS, Chen et al., Journal of Human Resource Management, 23, 1–26, 2023) with samples of employees (Study 1) and supervisors (Study 2) from diverse industries in the U.S. Consistent with Chen et al.’s (Journal of Human Resource Management, 23, 1–26, 2023) findings, the confirmatory factor analysis results of both samples indicated that the workplace emotional blackmail construct consists of two dimensions: intimidation and appealing. Moreover, WEBS showed satisfactory reliability and criterion-related validity in both samples (i.e., employee resistance, compliance, and commitment). The research findings suggest that the WEBS scale is adequate for examining the nomological network of emotional blackmail in the workplace.
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The data supporting the findings of this research are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Notes
When analyzed without control variables, all the mediating effects of negative feelings were consistent with the results of the analyses including control variables, except for the mediating effects of fear on the relationship between WEB-I and resistance.
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Chen, YY., Pham, M., Hu, C. et al. Validation of the Workplace Emotional Blackmail Scale (WEBS). Curr Psychol 43, 18143–18158 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05584-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05584-z