Beyond the victim: experienced and observed workplace violence, violence prevention, and job dissatisfaction

Workplace violence rarely only affects its direct victims; it is often witnessed, remembered, and silently interpreted by many others. This study explores the impacts of experienced and observed violence on job dissatisfaction and the mediating effects of perceived lack of organizational violence prevention (LOVP).

Data were drawn from a nationally representative sample of 14,515 federal employees. Structural equation modeling was used to test direct, indirect, and comparative effects.

The results indicated that first-person and observed third-person violence result in job dissatisfaction. Interestingly, the contrast between first-person (experienced) and third-person (observed) violence on job dissatisfaction is negligible. Both exposure types have significant total effects (0.47 versus 0.33), respectively, but the difference is non-significant (p = 0.182). Similarly, while LOVP fully mediated the link between both experienced or observed violence and job dissatisfaction, the difference in indirect effects through LOVP is also non-significant (p = 0.151). This study demonstrates that job dissatisfaction does not differ significantly between firsthand and observed exposure, challenging assumptions about the primacy of direct victimization. Further, by showing that perceived lack of organizational violence prevention (LOVP) fully mediates these relationships, we reveal why both forms of exposure equally erode employee attitudes: employees interpret violence as an organizational failure rather than an isolated act. This perspective reframes workplace violence as a relational and organizational phenomenon rather than a purely stress-based event.