Using a Social-Ecological Lens to Retrospectively Assess Witnesses' Responses to Bullying

<p><strong>The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the experiences of individuals who have witnessed bullying throughout their life, and to consider how their behaviour differed across experiences. Past research in the area of bullying has highlighted the importance of witnesses, who play a key role in how bullying unfolds. However, there is limited research to date that considers how individuals may take on different witness roles across bullying incidents. In the present study, eight participants (three males, five females) aged 19 to 38 years were individually interviewed using a semi-structured interview format. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems perspective was used to develop a question guide for these interviews that holistically explored contextual and personal factors that influence witnesses’ behaviour. The question guide also included specific questions prompting participants to analytically reflect on their own experiences, as active contributors to the research. Participants’ answers were analysed in depth and key themes were extracted: the role teachers can play in guiding witness behaviour (the behaviour of witnesses); workplace systems not supporting witnesses to report bullying; learning and knowledge that is gained too late; witnesses' personal values that motivate their behaviour; direct contextual elements that impact witnesses' decisions and actions; and the power of foundational defending experiences to dictate ongoing witness behaviour. The participants’ own opinions on the strongest influences on witness behaviour were also shared. The findings of this research show that witness behaviour is substantially influenced by the effects of time and individual development, and highlight the need for more research exploring broader contextual influences on witness behaviour.</strong></p>