Workplace-Related Shootings and General Strain Theory

• In Event: Explaining Mass Shootings

Abstract

Abundant research has been conducted on school and mass shootings throughout the past twenty years, but the academic literature on workplace-related shootings remains scarce. Particularly noteworthy to the discussion of workplace-related shootings are the social and psychological outcomes related to job loss and the threat of losing one’s job and work identity. Unemployment and the loss of work are detrimental, beyond a financial burden, to a person’s sense of self-worth. The anxiety stemming from the threat of job loss can promote negative emotions and drive an individual to act unpredictably, resorting to criminal behavior as a response to the source of their distress. This research tests the assumptions of Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory, which asserts that violence is more likely to occur when a goal-oriented individual feels hindrances impeding their aspirations, such as a denied promotion, a poor performance evaluation, a cut in salary, and termination. Using data extracted from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) active shooter incident (ASI) summaries, the researchers provide insight into workplace-related shootings' where, when, who, and why. Security professionals can use this research to inform their risk management and insider threat programs to craft profiles for persons of interest in workplace-related shootings.

Authors

• Anna Leimberg, Austin Peay State University

• Erin Carlin, Austin Peay State University

• Kirsten England, University of South Florida

• Alexis Israel, Austin Peay State University

• Kaylynn Sims, Eastern Illinois University