ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicBystanders' Roles in Workplace Bullying: Impacts and InterventionsView all 3 articles
Empowering Bystanders: A Psychological and Institutional Model for Intervention in Academic Bullying
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- 2The Canadian Institute of Workplace Bullying Resources, Alberta, Canada
- 3Other
- 4Lehigh University, Bethlehem, United States
- 5The University of Memphis, Memphis, United States
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
"When you see something, say something"- is a familiar public-service slogan. Yet, in practice, speaking up can be stressful and carries significant individual risk. This paper examines the role of bystanders as critical actors in either perpetuating or disrupting harmful behaviours in the context of academic bullying. While previous research has primarily explored the experiences of targets and perpetrators in academia, this paper advances the discourse by introducing a conceptual model of bystander intervention in academic bullying. Drawing on Latané and Darley's (1970) Five-Step Bystander Intervention Process, this model integrates the unique dynamics of power hierarchies, institutional culture, and professional risks that influence intervention choices in academia. This framework explains why bystanders often remain passive or, in some cases, align with the bully or bullies. Factors such as betrayal blindness, fear of reprisal, protection of self-interest, and the desire to maintain professional relationships contribute to bystander inaction or complicity. This paper concludes with recommendations and practical choices for institutional resources designed to strengthen accountability and foster a culture of psychological safety. By addressing the structural and psychological barriers that prevent bystanders from acting, our model provides a new pathway for fostering a safer, more inclusive, and ethically responsible academic environment.
Keywords: Psychology, Bullying, Academia, bystander, Bystander action
Received: 19 Jun 2025; Accepted: 29 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Borthakur, Crockett, Mihalchan, Swann and Saikia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Debanjan Borthakur, debanjan.borthakur@utoronto.ca
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.