Construction and First Validation of a French Scale of Environmental Harassment at Work (EHWS)

Abstract

Harassment is a form of violence that is increasingly reported in the world of work and has given rise to numerous studies. This article presents the results of a series of five studies to construct and validate the French Environmental Harassment at Work Scale-EHWS. Four hundred and four people employed in various professional sectors (health, education, or services) participated in the five studies. A questionnaire on Environmental Harassment at Work was constructed (Study 1). Study 2 revealed a four-dimensional factor structure, which was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis (Study 3). The questionnaire was shown to have good reliability (Study 4) and convergent validity (Study 5). The EHWS could be a valuable tool for human resource managers to assess environmental harassment in the organisation, and also for occupational health and safety organisations to highlight the nature of environmental harassment, and how it can be reported and prevented.