WORKPLACE BULLYING AND MORAL DISENGAGEMENT AS PREDICTORS OF EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION AMONG CORRECTIONAL FACILITY WORKERS IN OYO STATE, NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT Bullying has become a significant concern due to its negative impact on employees’ psychological well-being. Moral disengagement, on the other hand, explains the cognitive mechanisms individuals use to justify unethical behaviors in the workplace. Emotional exhaustion often arises when workers experience persistent stress without adequate coping resources. This present study examined workplace bullying and moral disengagement as predictors of emotional exhaustion among correctional facility workers in Oyo State. A cross-sectional research design was employed and was useful in collecting quantitative data that cut across various demographic characteristics such as age, gender and ranks w;ith questionnaires within a short period of time. Data was collected using standardized questionnaires from 150 correctional officers where 88 (58.7%) were males and 62 (41.3%) were females. The instruments used included the Negative Acts Questionnaire–Revised (NAQ-R) (α = 0.948), the Organizational Moral Disengagement Scale (α = 0.919), and the emotional exhaustion subscale (α = .813), of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). The data gathered were analyzed using inferential statistics. Findings showed that workplace bullying had significant influence on emotional exhaustion [R = .711; R2 = .51; F (1, 142) = 145.38; p < .001]. Also, moral disengagement significantly influenced emotional exhaustion [R = .688; R2 = .47; F (1, 143) = 128.79; p < .001]. Also, workplace bullying and moral disengagement had a significant joint influence on emotional exhaustion [R=.773, R2 =.597, F=(2, 141)=104.56, P< .001]. Furthermore, workplace bullying (β = .333; t = 6.84; p < .001) and moral disengagement (β = .440; t = 5.65; p < .001) had significant independent influence on emotional exhaustion. There exist no significant gender differences in emotional exhaustion among correctional facility workers[t (117.61) = -1.45; p > .05] Based on these findings, it was recommended that the Nigerian Correctional Service should enforce strict anti-bullying policies and confidential access to counseling. Word count: 299 Keywords: Workplace bullying, moral disengagement, emotional exhaustion, correctional officers, Oyo State, burnout