Nursing Faculty Descriptions of Horizontal Violence in Academe

Abstract

Horizontal violence (HV) is a well-documented phenomenon in nursing that has been studied primarily among staff nurses in clinical practice settings. Characteristics of peer-to-peer HV include, but are not limited to, bullying, scapegoating, blaming, coercion, aggression, and intimidation. A body of literature exist addressing faculty incivility toward students in academic settings however, limited studies have been conducted investigating faculty to faculty HV among nursing faculty in academe. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to investigate nursing faculty descriptions of faculty to faculty HV and determine the impact on nursing faculty and the academic work setting. The research questions are: 1) What actions or behaviors do nursing faculty describe as faculty to faculty HV in nursing academic work settings? 2) What is the impact of faculty to faculty HV in nursing academic work settings? The sample consisted of 14 full-time tenure and non-tenure track faculty teaching in baccalaureate, masters, or doctoral nursing programs in the United States. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed to determine conditions and defining characteristics of faculty to faculty HV. Participants described acts of HV including demeaning critique, abuse of power, claiming ownership of another's work, ridicule in the presence of students, and sabotage. Personal impact on individual faculty included discouragement, anger, frustration, intent to leave the profession, and heightened stress while impact on the work environment included mistrust, increased fear of retribution, lack of academic freedom, and destruction of camaraderie among faculty. The results of this study revealed three conditions in which faculty to faculty HV occur: HV related to the promotion/tenure process, HV related to the hierarchical structure, and HV related to the role functions of faculty.