From Anger to Silence: A Conceptual Integration of Avoidance Strategies in Workplace Harassment

This study proposes a theoretical framework that reconceptualizes workplace harassment not as isolated deviant acts but as a staged transformation of avoidance strategies selected in response to criticism or problem-raising. Prior research has examined anger as aggressive behavior (Averill, 1982; Gibson & Callister, 2010) and silence as voice suppression or interpersonal risk avoidance (Morrison, 2014; Van Dyne et al., 2003), yet the dynamic relationship between these phenomena has not been sufficiently integrated. Building upon prior conceptualizations of silent harassment as communicative exclusion grounded in meta-communication dysfunction and structural ambiguity (Hiraoka, 2025b), the present study develops a Dual-Stage Avoidance Harassment Model. It theorizes anger-based immediate avoidance as the first stage and silent harassment as a subsequent, more invisible and sustainable avoidance strategy. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that this transition process is consistent with social learning theory (Bandura, 1977), institutional isomorphism (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983), and organizational learning theory (Argyris & Schön, 1978). The shift from anger to silence is interpreted not as emotional calming but as a strategic transformation. By bridging harassment research, employee silence research, psychological safety, and organizational learning, the model provides a theoretical foundation for structural intervention.