Abstract

Workplace bullying has become a major organizational concern and a social justice challenge because of its contribution to employee exclusion, psychological harm, and workforce instability. Although workplace bullying represents distinct negative workplace behaviors, employee marginalization reflects the broader organizational consequence involving systematic exclusion from participation, recognition, and psychological safety. This research investigated the effect of workplace bullying on employee turnover intention within selected corporate organizations in Sri Lanka. A quantitative research approach was employed using a structured questionnaire administered to employees across the selected organizations. Out of 384 distributed questionnaires, 357 valid responses were analyzed using SPSS. The analysis included reliability testing, exploratory factor analysis, descriptive statistics, and multiple regression. The results indicated that workplace bullying significantly affects employee turnover intention, with the regression model accounting for 81.8% of the variation in turnover intention. Professional undermining was identified as the strongest predictor, followed by verbal abuse, intimidation, and humiliation, whereas social exclusion showed no significant effect. Exploratory Factor Analysis further revealed considerable overlap among bullying dimensions, indicating that employees view bullying as interconnected expressions of organizational marginalization rather than separate behaviors. The findings suggest that workplace bullying limits employee voice, reduces psychological safety, and strengthens exclusionary organizational practices. From a practical perspective, the study supports the development of contextually appropriate anti-bullying policies and grievance procedures for HR practitioners and policymakers in Sri Lanka. The findings also highlight the importance of ethical leadership, stronger anti-bullying measures, and inclusive workplace environments to enhance employee well-being and long-term organizational sustainability.