The Influence of Attachment Style and Competitive Personality on Workplace Aggression
R. Gabrielle Swab, PhD and Paul D. Johnson, PhD
Interpersonal aggression is a relational process where the perpetrator acts in an antagonistic or hostile manner towards a victim. It is a serious issue for the work environment due to its implications on the organization and outcomes—including but not limited to psychological and physical well-being, job satisfaction, job commitment, and performance. Despite the widespread understanding of this issue, research still hasn’t determined all antecedents for enacting aggressively at work. In our study, we hypothesize that one’s attachment style and competitive orientation determine whether or not one acts aggressively toward others. We find support for the hypotheses based on the following theoretical and methodical research.
Attachment Styles
Attachment theory describes human relationships from a psychological, evolutionary, and ecological perspective, in that individuals seek the support of other people (or their attachment figures) when they are distressed. One’s style of attachment forms from interactions that children have with their caregivers during childhood development stages, which creates an affective, cognitive, and behavioral framework for how they view threats and expectations from others throughout their life from childhood to adulthood and in how they interact among their peers. In cases where the attachment figure is available and responsive during times of distress, children experience emotional well-being and feelings of security, leading them to experience emotional relief and an internal working model where help and support are available when needed. This leads an individual to develop a secure attachment style, which creates a positive view of self, where a person feels competent and valued, along with a positive view of others, who are available and supportive.
Alternatively, when threats are experienced and support is not provided, the attachment behavioral system can become hyperactivated or suppressed to manage those feelings of threat, leading the child to develop a fearful or dismissive working model of relationships. In adulthood, this leads to a negative view of self or others, resulting in one of two insecure attachment styles—anxious or avoidant. People with an anxious attachment style are fearful about their relationships, which leads them to minimize their distance from others (or cling to them) and strongly desire more support than necessary. This desire is based on the perception of others in their relationships as being unsupportive and likely to be absent in times of stress. Avoidant individuals deal with the distress and negative emotions from feelings of abandonment by suppressing those emotions and unpleasant thoughts. Rather than pursuing close relationships, avoidant individuals pursue autonomy and control and tend not to seek support from others.
As attachment styles are based on individual perceptions of self and others and have been found to affect workplace dynamics (e.g., proactivity, feedback-seeking behaviors, organizational commitment), our study hypothesizes that the secure and anxious attachment styles relate negatively to workplace aggression due to their positive view of others (and wanting their support and affection in the case of anxious). We also find support that the avoidant attachment style relates positively to workplace aggression, as these individuals enact their insecurities by keeping individuals at a distance, or if not, tend to act dominantly. Further, we find a mediating relationship between one’s competitive orientation and attachment style. That is, the attachment style in combination with one’s competitive orientation together affect an individual’s disposition toward workplace aggression. Specifically, for those with an avoidant attachment style—but not for secure or anxious attachment persons—when these individuals are also hypercompetitive, there is a positive relationship to workplace aggression.
Competitive Orientations
Both children and adults demonstrate different levels and forms of competitiveness. These competitive differences are a personality trait defined as the dispositional preference to compete with others. This research recognizes three distinct motivational differences in these preferences, termed competitive orientations: personal development (PD), hypercompetitiveness (HC), and competitive avoidance (CA).
The PD orientation is considered a healthy form of competitiveness, as these individuals use competition as a means for personal growth and development. They want to win but not at the expense of others. As such, we hypothesize and find secure individuals typically compete for PD. CA describes individuals with an aversion to competitive actions due to the excessive fear of losing the approval of others, which we find occurs in those with an anxious attachment. Lastly, hypercompetitive individuals view most situations as competition. They have an indiscriminate need to compete and win at any cost necessary to maintain and enhance feelings of self-worth. Avoidant individuals share a correlation with those who are hypercompetitive, as both tend to push individuals away as a defense mechanism and compete to obtain a heightened view of self. We hypothesize and find that hypercompetition acts as a mediator from the avoidant attachment style to aggressive behaviors.
Implications
In the workplace, we are embedded in an environment that both implicitly and explicitly pits co-workers against each other for limited resources, promotions, and perks. Thus, understanding how and why we compete and how competitive actions can lead to deleterious outcomes, such as aggression, helps us understand the relationships at work. By integrating these individual differences of attachment style related to interpersonal activity, we establish a basis for identifying the important relational dynamics that affect competitive action and aggressive behavior. Understanding these relational differences may help leaders manage individuals better by offering suggestions or counseling for the reworking or improvement of relational models.
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Recommended Reading
Swab, R. Gabrielle and Paul D. Johnson (2023), “Attachment, Competitiveness, and Workplace Aggression: A Model of Aggressive Intent and Examination of the Competitive Orientation Scale,” Psychological Reports, 1-37. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941231203568
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About the Authors
R. Gabrielle Swab, PhD
Assistant Professor of Management, Georgia Southern University
Dr. Gabrielle “Gabby” Swab’s (PhD – University of Mississippi) research interests include competitive behavior, entrepreneurship, and family business. Her research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Business Research, and Family Business Review. Dr. Swab teaches Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management in the Parker College of Business.
Paul D. Johnson PhD
Associate Professor of Management, Thomas Colbert Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, and Associate Dean, University of Mississippi
Dr. Paul D. Johnson (PhD – Oklahoma State University) is the author of numerous publications on innovation, creativity, and the motivational processes that underlie those in entrepreneurial teams. His work appears in the Journal of Management, the Journal of Applied Psychology, and the Journal of Organizational Behavior, among others.
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