The Precarious Labor Vulnerability Index (PLVI): A Conceptual Framework for Measuring Workplace Bullying Risk Among Temporary Workers in Sub-Saharan African Organizational Contexts

Abstract

Workplace bullying research has generated substantial evidence regarding prevalence, antecedents, and consequences in high-income organizational contexts, yet the measurement frameworks developed in these settings have limited transferability to Sub-Saharan African organizational environments characterized by labor market informality, high power-distance culture, weak institutional protection, and the specific vulnerabilities of temporary and contract workers. This paper introduces the Precarious Labor Vulnerability Index (PLVI), a conceptual index framework that operationalizes the measurement of workplace bullying vulnerability specifically for temporary and precarious workers in Sub-Saharan African organizational settings. The PLVI builds directly on the author's prior empirical research documenting workplace bullying patterns among temporary workers in Southwest Nigeria (Faremi, 2020a) and synthesizes five theoretical traditions: organizational justice theory, precarious work theory, power-distance theory, intersectionality theory, and institutional theory. The framework proposes five composite dimensions: Employment Security Index (ESI); Organizational Power Asymmetry Score (OPAS); Intersectional Vulnerability Coefficient (IVC); Institutional Protection Deficit Measure (IPDM); and Psychosocial Safety Climate Score (PSCS). Each dimension is grounded in the theoretical and empirical literature most relevant to informal and precarious labor market dynamics in West and sub-Saharan African contexts. The paper discusses psychometric validation considerations, cross-national applicability, policy implications for labor regulation and organizational accountability, and a research agenda for prospective validation studies. The PLVI represents a contextually grounded contribution to occupational health measurement with direct relevance to advancing worker protections across the sub-Saharan African labor landscape.