Organizational tolerance for workplace harassment: Development and validation of the POT scale

The current investigation defines the organizational tolerance (OT) construct and statistically assesses its measurement instrument, the perceived organizational tolerance for psychological workplace harassment (POT) scale, carried out to evaluate the level of tolerance, negligence, or even connivance that can be shown by an organization when it deals with an inappropriate act occurring within its scope. Tolerance of such acts has been identified as a hindrance when trying to establish an effective and sustainable strategy for the well-being of workers. A survey that measures the construct was distributed, and 195 employed workers answered. In the first stage of analysis, a scale reduction process was applied to the obtained data using a factor extraction method, and afterward, confirmatory factor analysis was performed using structural equation models. The results validated the scale as a model of five factors: Promotion, feedback, ethics, coherence, and training. These findings indicate that this scale is acceptable as a quantifier of a key issue, namely, the diligence of the organization when dealing with psychosocial risks at work. This new construct is anticipated to be incredibly useful for measuring as much research as possible on the behavior of organizations when they deal with negative acts, with the aim of promoting sustainable healthy working environments.