Bullying as a Persistent Concern: Organisational Tolerance and Nursing Workplaces

The Persistence of Harm Despite Decades of ResearchHaving researched bullying and related forms of workplace adversity in nursing for the better part of three decades between us, we find its persistence deeply troubling.The profession has accumulated a substantial body of knowledge about harmful workplace behaviours, their consequences and the conditions that sustain them.Yet nurses continue to describe workplaces in which humiliation, exclusion and intimidation are familiar features of working life (Zhang et al. 2025).The Journal of Advanced Nursing continues to receive submissions from across the globe addressing bullying in nursing, reflecting sustained international concern about the antecedents, manifestations and consequences of harmful workplace behaviours.This persistence raises questions about how organisations use the knowledge available to them, what action they take to ensure safety for everyone in the workplace, and how they respond to complaints of bullying.