Kiwis are being encouraged to report cyberbullying in the workplace after a study revealed many victims don't.
Researchers from Massey University analysed data from 205 victims, looking at the barriers to reporting cyber abuse.
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The study found that more than three-quarters of them never reported the abuse they received to their company.
Prof Natalia D'Souza told Newshub respondents didn't think it would help.
"This is maybe because they either didn't believe that the organisation would do anything about it or would act on it, or didn't think the organisation could actually do anything about it."
One-third of the bullying was done anonymously. Dr D'Souza said as social media grows and the workplace transitions to the younger generation, more people will fall victim to cyberbullying.
"They're coming in with this culture of social media, there's no real separation between online and offline, so we have every reason to believe that this will grow of no urgent action is taken to prevent it."
She said sometimes it could be hard for companies to know what to look for.
"If it's an unknown thing for them then it's much more difficult, much more challenging for managers to actually address and proactively prevent as well."
The 205 victims studied found being able to block the abuse was the most useful response, while organisational policies and interventions were the least useful.
Newshub.
