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How bullying becomes a career tool

Nature Human Behaviour volume 6, page 475 (2022)Cite this article

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To the Editor — Amongst recent high-profile bullying and (sexual) harassment scandals in academia, many have involved perpetrators who are ‘star academics’, yet had records of bullying and multiple complaints over many years1. People often believe that these scientists are bullies despite being star academics. Their misbehaviours are attributed to an unfortunate decoupling between being a good scientist and being a decent person. However, academics who have experienced bullying often describe patterns that suggest a different explanation entirely: bullying is a means for mediocre scientists to rise to the top. Some star academics reached their position because they are bullies, not in spite of it.

There are multiple, interrelated ways in which bullying can be a way to further one’s career and interests in academia. Bullying behaviours — including abuse of power, mobbing and devaluing the achievements of others — sabotage the careers of their targets, effectively removing competition from the academic environment. Once they rise to the top, academics can use the same strategies to promote their ‘chosen ones’, and become untouchable.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Resource Management & Organizational Behavior, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands

    Susanne Täuber

  2. Department of Radiology and Precision Health Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Morteza Mahmoudi

Authors
  1. Susanne Täuber
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  2. Morteza Mahmoudi
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Correspondence to Susanne Täuber or Morteza Mahmoudi.

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Competing interests

S.T. is a member of advisory board at the Academic Parity Movement (www.paritymovement.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing academic discrimination, violence and incivility. M.M. is a cofounder and director of the Academic Parity Movement, and receives royalties/honoraria for his published books, plenary lectures and licensed patents.

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Täuber, S., Mahmoudi, M. How bullying becomes a career tool. Nat Hum Behav 6, 475 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01311-z

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