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Purpose: Cyberbullying is a globally pervasive problem and not novel in academia. Previous studies mainly focussed on the features, consequences and technological management of cyberbullying. However, most of the studies took cyberbullying examples in the West, and some issues still need to be addressed in the Chinese context. Thus, this study investigates how participants use cyberbullying words and why they use them in that particular way in China. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses content analysis to summarise the typical features of cyberbullying words, revealing a positive relationship between cyberbullying words and sentimental expressions. This paper also uses the questionnaire (N = 705) to explore the prevalence of cyberbullying among Chinese Internet users and to compare the gender differences in the cognition of cyberbullying words and involvement in cyberbullying, in line with the social cognitive theory. Findings: This study stated that people prefer repetitively using offensive words to achieve cyberbullying goals. Interestingly, this study does not find obvious gender differences in cyberbullying roles and cyberbullying language use. However, it explained the relationship between cognition and the use of cyberbullying words from a gender perspective. Practical implications: Theoretically, this study expands cyberbullying studies into a new cultural environment, pointing to a novel term, "imbalanced relation," for exploring cyberbullying behaviours. This study highlights the significance of technology and education in detecting and preventing cyberbullying, suggesting that educators and social media platforms can directly predict and prevent cyberbullying through textual perspectives and individuals' cognition of cyberbullying. Originality/value: This study aims to examine cyberbullying linguistic and emotional features and individual differences in cyberbullying behaviour in a high-context culture like China. Its values include comparing the differences between cyberbullying in China and cyberbullying in the West from the linguistic and cultural directions and reconsidering the "power imbalance" feature of cyberbullying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: While the rapid adoption of information communication technologies (ICT) in organizations has been linked with a higher risk of cyberbullying, research on the influence of cyberbullying on interpersonal behaviors in the workplace remains limited. By drawing on the ego-depletion theory and the leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, this research investigates how, why and when workplace cyberbullying may trigger interpersonal aggression through ICT. Design/methodology/approach: The authors collected data from 259 employees and 62 supervisors working in large ICT organizations in China through a multi-wave survey. The authors performed multilevel analysis and used hierarchical linear modeling to test the proposed moderated mediation model. Findings: The results revealed that workplace cyberbullying has a significant and positive influence on interpersonal aggression in the workplace via ego depletion. The authors found that differentiation in LMX processes at group level moderates the indirect relationship between workplace cyberbullying and interpersonal aggression (via ego depletion). Furthermore, the positive indirect effect of workplace cyberbullying was found to be stronger in the presence of a high LMX differentiation condition in comparison to a low LMX differentiation condition. Research limitations/implications: The data were collected from Chinese ICT organizations, which may limit the generalization of this study's findings to other cultural and sectoral contexts. Originality/value: This paper provides the first step in understanding how, why and when workplace cyberbullying triggers interpersonal aggression by investigating the role of ego depletion as a mediator and LMX differentiation as a boundary condition. This is the first study to empirically examine the relationships between workplace cyberbullying, ego depletion, LMX differentiation and interpersonal aggression in ICT organizations using multi-level modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]