African Educational Research Journal - Vol. 8(3) - Full Length Research Paper - The effect of mobbing behaviors on students’ burnout

Oct 15, 2026

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This study aimed to investigate the effect of instructor-induced mobbing behavior on students’ burnout. Data were collected from undergraduate students in a faculty of sports sciences. Mobbing was measured using the Negative Acts Questionnaire–Student (NAQ–S) with academic and non-academic dimensions, while burnout was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory–Student Survey (MBI–SS) with exhaustion, cynicism and efficacy. Academic mobbing affected exhaustion, whereas non-academic mobbing influenced cynicism and efficacy.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

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Pages6

Reading Time15 min

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Abstract

Introduction

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 8(3), pp. 519-524, August 2020 DOI: 10. 30918/AERJ.83.20.096 ISSN: 2354-2160 Full Length Research Paper The effect of mobbing behaviors on students’ burnout: Empirical results from a Higher Educational Institution Mehdi Duyan Faculty of Sport Sciences, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey. Accepted 29 July, 2020 | ABSTRACT
This study aimed to investigate the effect of instructor-induced mobbing behavior on students’ burnout. The data were obtained from undergraduate students studying at a university’s faculty of sports sciences. Two scales were used in the study. To measure mobbing, the Negative Acts Questionnaire–Student (NAQ–S) was used. NAQ–S has two sub-dimensions named academic mobbing and non-academic mobbing. To measure students’ burnout, the Maslach Burnout Inventory–Student Survey (MBI–SS) was used. MBI–SS has three sub-dimensions named exhaustion, cynicism and efficacy. The results showed that academic mobbing only significantly affected students’ exhaustion, while non-academic mobbing significantly influences students’ cynicism and efficacy. In conclusion, school administrators should be aware that mobbing behaviors affect student burnout. It should take into account the possibility of such negative behaviors occurring and make efforts to prevent them .
Keywords: Mobbing, burnout, student, higher educational institution. | | --- | | [E-mail:duyanmhdi@gmail.com](E-mail:duyanmhdi@gmail.com). | INTRODUCTION In recent years, mobbing and burnout issues have gained a lot of attention in the health literature. The reason for this is that both cases create serious health problems on individuals and cause negative effects such as low productivity. Although research on mobbing and burnout is mostly done on individuals in working life, students have recently been included in these studies. In the literature, mobbing is expressed as an aggressive behavior produced to deliberately harm and disturb another person (Leymann, 1996), while burnout is expressed as a psychological syndrome caused by excessive and chronic stress (Maslach, 2003) . Regarding the conceptualization process, Lorenz (1963) was the first to mention mobbing. He used this concept as “a group of animals targeting a single animal in various ways, causing harm to it”. Later, Heinemann (1972) used this concept when examining group behaviors related to the harm of one group of children to another group of children. Later, Leymann (1996) conducted a series of studies on the negative psychological effects of mobbing on individuals in the context of the organization. Leymann classified 45 different mobbing behaviors in five groups according to their characteristics. These behaviors are grouped under the following headings: an attack on the dignity of the person, attacks on performance, attacks on communication, attacks on social conditions, and threat of physical attack. In this context, Leymann expressed mobbing as “hostile or immoral behaviors that one or more people generally systematically target to one person”. There is a lot of evidence in the literature regarding negative effects of mobbing on individuals, such as low performance (Josipovic-Jelic et al. , 2005), absenteeism (Depedro et al. , 2014), organizational citizenship (Yildiz, 2016), turnover intention (Zapf, 1999), and burnout (Yildiz, 2015) . Studies related to mobbing on employees in the service sector have gained momentum. Specifically, researchers have begun to study both instructors and students in educational institutions. Yildiz (2020) carried out a new study recently and examined the effect of instructor-induced mobbing behavior with academic and non-academic mobbing dimensions on students. Academic mobbing refers to the negative behavior of the instructor associated with lessons, while non-academic mobbing refers to the negative personal behavior of the instructor towards the student. The results of the study showed that both acad

FAQs

What was the main goal of the study?

The study examined how instructor-induced mobbing behaviors affect students’ burnout.

How were mobbing and burnout measured?

Mobbing was measured using NAQ–S (academic and non-academic dimensions). Burnout was measured using MBI–SS (exhaustion, cynicism, and efficacy).

What were the key findings about academic vs. non-academic mobbing?

Academic mobbing significantly affected students’ exhaustion. Non-academic mobbing significantly influenced cynicism and efficacy.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford