Aims. This study examined the moderating role of two resources (social support and recognition) in the longitudinal relationship between workload and bullying behaviors in nurses. Design. A two-wave (12-month) longitudinal study was conducted. Method. French-Canadian nurses (n = 279) completed an online survey (in October 2014 and October 2015) assessing their perceptions of job characteristics within the work environment (workload, social support, job recognition) as well as exposure to negative behaviors at work. Results. Workload positively predicted exposure to bullying behaviors over time, but only when job recognition and social support were low. Workload was unrelated to bullying when social support was high and negatively related to bullying when job recognition was high. Conclusion. This study aligns with the work environment hypothesis, showing that poorly designed and stressful job environments provide fertile ground for bullying behaviors. Impact. Bullying is a growing concern in the nursing profession that not only undermines nurses’ well-being but also compromises patient safety and quality of care provided by healthcare organizations. It is thus important to identify the work-related factors that can contribute to the presence of bullying behaviors in nurses in the hopes of reducing their occurrence. This study contributes to this endeavour and identifies two key social coping resources that can help manage the stress associated with workload, resulting in less bullying behaviors among nurses.