Workplace bullying and intention to leave. Workplace bullying is defined as harassment, persistent criticism, withholding of key information, spreading of rumors, or intimidation on the job. In Human Resource Management Journal (Oct. 2008), researchers employed multiple regression to examine whether perceived organizational support would moderate the relationship between workplace bullying and victims’ intention to leave the firm.

The dependent variable in the analysis, intention to leave

(y), was measured on a quantitative scale. The two key independent variables in the study were bullying (x1, measured on a quantitative scale) and perceived organizational support (measured qualitatively as “low,” “neutral,”

or “high”).

a. Set up the dummy variables required to represent perceived organizational support (POS) in the regression model.

b. Write a model for E(y) as a function of bullying and POS that hypothesizes three parallel straight lines, one for each level of POS.

c. Write a model for E(y) as a function of bullying and POS that hypothesizes three nonparallel straight lines, one for each level of POS.

d. The researchers discovered that the effect of bullying on intention to leave was greater at the low level of POS than at the high level of POS. Which of the two models, parts b and

c, supports these findings?