Cognitive hardiness as a moderator in the relationship between generalized workplace harassment and anger among working women in Pakistan

Abstract

ABSTRACT Previous research literature shows that women face sexual as well as generalized harassment at their workplaces but most of the working women do not recognize generalized harassment as harassment and consider it as routine job problem which has no solution except staying quiet. Therefore, the primary objective of the present study was to relook at the issue of workplace harassment by taking generalized harassment into account that was previously limited to sexual harassment only. Harassment at the workplace is taboo in Pakistani society where women fear raising their voice for the sake of job security and their character. The current study investigated the relationship between generalized workplace harassment and anger and the moderating role of cognitive hardiness in this relationship. A sample of 300 women (M = 28, SD = 8.01) age ranged 18 years to 57 years, from diverse working environments, were selected from the province of Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan. The results revealed that generalized workplace harassment was a significant positive predictor of anger among the working women. Cognitive hardiness moderated this relationship significantly. The relationship between generalized workplace harassment and anger was observed to be stronger for lower levels of cognitive hardiness. This study has helped in identifying risk factors brought by generalized workplace harassment that can help organizations in policymaking against this issue Figure 1.