Abstract
This article aims to provide a conceptual framework for elucidating how and under what circumstances women interpret social-sexual behaviours they experience at work as sexual harassment, by reviewing journal articles related to the interpretation of sexual conduct and harassment published between 1990 and 2016. By appraising, expanding, synthesising and collating extant literature in the area, it is proposed that social-sexual behaviour experienced by women at the workplace will be interpreted as harassing or not depending on: a) how they perceive the appropriateness of the intentions of the harasser, b) their sensitivity to the issue of sexual harassment, c) how personally vulnerable they are, d) the context within which the behaviour occurred and c) the behaviour itself. The proposed framework adds to existing knowledge by building on and expanding the prior understanding of how social-sexual behviour at work is interpreted, going beyond the constricted attention paid to one or few factors affecting interpretation in a piecemeal fashion.
Highlights
Social-sexual behaviour at the workplace is a phenomenon that has gained much attention of scholars during the past few decades, especially in research and discussions related to sexual harassment
[the] workplace interactions occurring between two or more organisational members that are construed by the parties involved as having sexual connotations, but that are not necessarily perceived by one or more parties involved as having a threatening or harassing intent. (p. 10) social-sexual behaviours can be seen as fun, pleasurable, enjoyable, (Aquino et al, 2014; Berdahl & Aquino, 2009; Dellinger & Williams, 2002; Denissen, 2010; Giuffre & Williams, 1994; Schultz 1998), or as threatening, harassing or offensive
According to Langhout et al (2005), “it remains unclear how these social-sexual workplace behaviour translate into harm” (p. 976). It is this knowledge gap that the current review attempts to fill by drawing from past literature in the area, to develop a conceptual framework that will elucidate how and under what circumstances a recipient would construe a social-sexual behaviour as sexual harassment
Summary
Social-sexual behaviour at the workplace is a phenomenon that has gained much attention of scholars during the past few decades, especially in research and discussions related to sexual harassment. The framework will provide useful guidelines for future researchers in preparing questionnaires, interview guides or vignettes for exploring the prevalence and perceptions of sexual harassment, by taking into consideration the many factors that contribute to the identification of sexual harassment This framework will assist managers and complaint handlers of organisations to understand complaints related to sexual harassment from a recipient’s subjective point of view. This knowledge of interpretation can be used in defining sexual harassment in anti-sexual harassment policies, in training programmes and in designing guidelines for complaint handlers This framework builds on and expands prior understanding of how social-sexual behaviour at work is interpreted (e.g. Gutek et al, 1983; Cortina & Berdahl, 2008; Hunt Davidson, Fielden, & Hoel, 2010; McDonald, 2012; Rotundo et al, 2001; Yagil, 2008). My intention here is to clarify the subjectivity surrounding sexual harassment by exploring how and under what circumstances women interpret social-sexual behaviours at work as sexual harassment, which has been a continuous debate especially in disciplines such as human resource management, phycology and law
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