Mobbing exposed by deck cadets at onboard training during the internship period

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine whether oceangoing officer candidates encounter mobbing “psychological terror in the workplace” during their onboard training period and analyze whether there is a dimensional difference between the mobbing behaviors experienced by the deck cadets. The attendees of the study are a total 212 oceangoing officer candidates who have sea experience and are studying for a BSc degree in maritime transportation engineering. The demographic information of cadets, along with the details about the internship process and the Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror (LIPT) items was analyzed using statistical tests by SPSS and association rule mining methods with the SPSS modeler. The study results demonstrate that, regardless of the ship type or internship duration, the cadets were subjected to mobbing in the sub-dimension of Self-expression and communication and Occupational situation and quality of life. The cadets who reported experiencing occupational stress indicated that their career expectations changed after the internship. The presence of “only one cadet on board” was identified as a significant antecedent factor affecting not only Self-expression and communication and Occupational situation and quality of life but also occupational stress and changes in work expectations after internship.