*1.3. Extent of Workplace Bullying in Korean Workplaces*

Contextual characteristics in a certain culture and nation may influence on the people's work and family life [42]. According to the well-known Hofstede's cultural dimensions, Korea is considered to be a society with high levels of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, collectivism, Confucianism, and restraint [43,44]. In this culture, Korean workplaces have tended to have strong hierarchy of top-down organizational culture with the hard work ethic for long hours and let the group interests take precedence over the individual rights of employees [42,45,46], which is more likely to be a breeding ground for workplace bullying acts and behaviors [47]. For example, abusive supervisors or colleagues might exploit the victim's work-oriented attitude by top-down leadership or collectivistic peer pressure.

According to Seo's survey in 2010, 4% of Korean employees working in healthcare, manufacturing, service, and financial industries were the victims of workplace bullying and only 13.4% reported that they had never experienced any forms of workplace bullying during the past six months [4]. Among a number of Korean industries, employees working in education, banking, and healthcare industries seem more vulnerable; about 25% of education industry workers were the victims of workplace bullying and banking industry workers reported average 34 exposure to workplace bullying per month [5]. The most frequent negative acts experienced by the respondents were 'being urged to resign', 'ideas or opinions being ignored', and 'being humiliated'. Especially, employees in education, banking, and healthcare sectors came under pressure to resign once a week. Employees who worked long hours or non-regular workers reported more exposure to workplace bullying [5].

Although workplace bullying is one of the major social problems in Korea and the media is paying attention to the recent suicide cases of employees due to severe stress from workplace bullying [48], this topic has received little scholarly attention. There has been lack of knowledge about the prevalence, antecedents, consequences, and mechanisms of bullying in Korean workplaces. To examine the associations between workplace bullying, work-to-family conflict, and employee well-being, the current study used data collected from employees in education, banking, and healthcare industries in Korea, where workplace bullying is a particular concern.
