Despite extensive research spanning three decades, organizations continue to struggle with preventing and addressing workplace bullying effectively. We contend this limited progress stems from conceptual rather than empirical shortcomings. Following Sartori's framework for concept rehabilitation, we conducted two complementary analyses to diagnose and resolve these shortcomings. First, a conceptual-mapping review of workplace bullying definitions revealed both widespread collective ambiguity (24 distinct definitions) and the limitations of commonly used defining elements. Second, a semantic field analysis located workplace bullying within its conceptual space, identifying its essential categorical properties and distinguishing characteristics from related phenomena. Integrating these analyses, we isolated three essential behavioral elements of workplace bullying: (1) its motive (neutralizing perceived threats), (2) its method (creating false impressions of power differentials), and (3) its meaning (undermining targets). These elements yield a new definition of workplace bullying as perpetrators falsely convincing targets that they are too defenseless and powerless to refuse illegitimate outcomes. This reconceptualization resolves existing ambiguities while maintaining clear boundaries with related concepts, providing a foundation for more focused research on preventing and addressing workplace bullying.
