Dong Lee

My research interests include workplace bullying, workplace wellbeing, proactive behaviours, work engagement, employee voice, organisational justice, and socialisation at work. In order to clarify my research interests in more detail, I am breaking this down into 3 sections. First, I am pleased to delve into any kind of abuse at work (specifically towards marginalised groups (e.g., refugees, people living in extreme poverty or who are traumatised). This research interest is interrelated with samples in my PhD thesis. My interviewees (i.e., North Korean refugees) have been traumatised and brainwashed by one-man dictatorship in North Korea. Understanding bullying towards them will provide additional and novel insight into different perceptions of workplace bullying. Second, workplace wellbeing is of major importance to socialisation at work. However, abuse at work has aggravated workplace wellbeing to a great extent. Since workplace bullying has been argued to be a more crippling and devastating problem than other work-related stressors, I am interested in linking workplace bullying to workplace wellbeing, and this, in turn, causes mental illness such as depression. Last but not least, proactive behaviours are central to socialisation at work, and a cornerstone of the interpersonal relationship with co-workers and supervisors at work. I am more than willing to scrutinise the relationship between proactive behaviours and organisational culture and workplace bullying. 

I’m currently doing PhD in Business and Management pathway at the Norwich Business School (NBS) of the University of East Anglia, and a member of the Norwich Business school Employment systems and institutions (ESI) group.  I am a qualitative researcher, scrutinising the impact of culture, political climates, and situational factors on different perceptions of workplace bullying towards disempowered groups (e.g., North Korean refugees). I have pointed to heterogeneity in understandings of workplace bullying and psychological wellbeing by providing readers with in-depth accounts of Asian culture, political climates and situational factors (e.g., the Covid-19 Pandemic and group-based bullying) for my PhD thesis. I hold a master’s degree in Human Resource Management and Employment Relations at Warwick Business School (WBS) of the University of Warwick. Apart from my master’s degree at WBS, I hold a bachelor’s degree in the Norwich Business school (NBS) of the University of East Anglia, with a major in Management. During the gap year between my bachelor’s and master’s degree, I was working in one of the supply chain management companies in South Korea for 1 year. To add to this, I have internship experience in one of the start-up accelerator companies and a management consulting company respectively. 

Workplace bullying, Bystander behaviours, Workplace incivility, Psychological wellbeing, Employee voice, Marginalised actors, Proactive behaviours, the impact of cultural traditions on Workplace bullying