Sexual Harassment Climate Research Articles

Coworker support in a sexual harassment climate: A conservation of resources perspective

Sexual harassment is still an issue in the hospitality industry, despite ample research on the topic. A sexual harassment climate – one that tolerates instances of unwanted sexual attention – produces negative impacts on employees’ well-being, job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, and engagement, which may lead to increased turnover, absenteeism, and decreased productivity. The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of a sexual harassment climate in employees’ emotional exhaustion and employee engagement. Grounded in the conservation of resources theory, a moderated mediation analysis of a survey of 236 Turkish citizens who work in hotels confirmed that a sexual harassment climate led to more instances of unwanted sexual attention, which resulted in increased emotional exhaustion and decreased employee engagement due to the depletion of resources. Coworker support moderated this interaction, leading to a reduction in the negative impacts due to an increase in resources. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Musculoskeletal pain among medical residents: role of workplace safety climate and sexual harassment

BackgroundWorkplace factors are important predictors of occurrence of musculoskeletal pain among different occupational populations. In healthcare, a psychologically unsafe work environment can negatively affect the emotional, physical and psychological well-being of physicians. This study aimed to examine the relationship between workplace violence, sexual harassment and musculoskeletal pain among Egyptian physicians in their years of residency.MethodsWe distributed an online self-administered questionnaire to 101 residents working in various healthcare sectors in Egypt. It included sections on demographic data, working conditions, widespread pain index (WPI), pain interference short-form, workplace violence and harassment questionnaire, psychosocial safety climate questionnaire (PSC) and sexual harassment climate questionnaire.ResultsAll residents had at least one painful site on the WPI (range 1–11). The mean WPI was 3.5 ± 2.4, and 39.6% satisfied the criteria of having widespread pain by having at least 4 pain sites. Widespread pain index showed a weak statistically significant negative correlation with workplace PSC score (rho = − 0.272, p = 0.006), and a statistically significant weak positive correlation with the calculated total abuse index (rho = 0.305, p = 0.002). Workplace violence and abuse, as measured by a calculated abuse index was the only significant predictors of widespread pain among residents.ConclusionWPV was found to be a predictor of musculoskeletal pain among medical residents. Healthcare organizations need to address WPV by employing preventive strategies to minimize its hazardous effects and ensure a safe working environment for physicians.

Sexual Harassment, Sexual Harassment Climate, and the Well-Being of STEM Faculty Members

Sexual Harassment, Sexual Harassment Climate, and the Well-Being of STEM Faculty Members

Factors influencing sexual harassment behavior in sports environment: Evidence from Pakistan.

Sexual harassment (SH) in sporting environments has developed as an important field of research. However, a more comprehensive understanding of factors affecting SH behavior is needed. We hypothesized how these effects appear and the scenarios in which they exist. Based on the perspectives of SH, this study aims to reveal the athletes' perceptions of SH and organizational climate (OC) impacts on SH, as well as the mediating mechanisms of low self-esteem (LSE) and the moderating role of hostile sexism (HS). Data collected from 422 female athletes in Pakistan, using random sampling and using SEM techniques analyze that these factors are responsible of increased likelihood of female athlete SH. Our results suggest that athletes' perceptions of OC positively predict SH, and OC is positively related to LSE. In addition, LSE partially mediates the positive effects of athletes' perceptions of OC on SH, where HS strengthens the perceived relationship between OC and LSE, which stimulates the SH of athletes. The overall model predictive ability was carried out by moderated mediation model. This study had deep implications for the literature. It clarified the ways that are crucial for predicting OC. Whether there are written laws on the subject, organizations are reluctant to acknowledge them, which entails developing methods of quantifying SH and creating data accessible to the public. A future study is recommended to evaluate the abuse of power concerning benevolent sexism to identify athlete perception of SH.

Leading in: inclusive leadership, inclusive climates and sexual harassment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a model that explores the relationship between inclusive leadership, inclusive climates and sexual harassment and other negative work-related outcomes, at the work unit and individual levels.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model of inclusive work unit leadership, inclusive work unit climate and sexual harassment based on a review of the literature.FindingsLeaders who behave more inclusively are expected to have work units and work unit members who experience more positive outcomes and fewer negative outcomes including sexual harassment and other forms of mistreatment. Leaders impact their work unit and work unit members' outcomes directly as well as indirectly through the more inclusive work unit climates they create.Research limitations/implicationsThe sexual harassment literature has identified climate for sexual harassment as a key predictor of sexually harassing behavior and its attendant negative outcomes. A focus on a broader inclusive climate, and inclusive leadership, may provide a richer understanding of the conditions under which sexual harassment and other forms of mistreatment occur and can be mitigated.Practical implicationsThis model can help identify strategies organizations can employ (e.g. inclusive leadership development programs) to combat sexual harassment.Social implicationsThis model may improve understanding of the systemic, organizational causes of sexual harassment reducing sexual harassment victims' potential self-blame and helping policymakers craft more effective sexual harassment interventions.Originality/valueThe paper conceives of work climates that contribute to sexual harassment more broadly than generally has been the case in the sexual harassment literature to date. The model highlights the important role that leaders play in shaping inclusive climates. It also contributes to the nascent literature on inclusion and inclusive climates, which has paid relatively little attention to exclusion and mistreatment including sexual harassment that are likely to arise in less inclusive workplaces.

Dependence on tips and sexual harassment vulnerability of hotel employees in Accra, Ghana

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceived dependence on tips and vulnerability to sexual harassment (SH) among hotel employees in Accra Metropolis, Ghana.Design/methodology/approachWithin a cross-sectional research design, 583 employees from 55 hotels completed self-administered questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, χ2 test of independence, Kruskal–Wallis test were used to analyse collected data.FindingsResults of the study reveal that dependence on tips is related to SH vulnerability of food and beverage staff. Furthermore, dependence on tips engenders a perception of SH climate. Compared to guests and co-workers, supervisors were least identified as perpetrators of SH in hotel workspaces. Guests were responsible for unwanted sexual attention, whereas co-workers pose the greatest risk for gender harassment.Practical implicationsHotel management should invest in the publication of educational materials such as leaflets and posters indicating unacceptability of inappropriate sexual behaviours.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the pioneers to have assessed the relationship between dependence on tips and perceived climate for SH as well as vulnerability to SH in a hotel context.

An unintended consequence? Examining the relationship between visible tattoos and unwanted sexual attention

AbstractIn the wake of the increasing popularity of tattoos, the present study explored whether tattoos have an adverse impact on employees. Specifically, this research examined the relationship between visible tattoos and unwanted sexual attention, along with perceived sexual harassment climate and perceived inclusion climate as potential moderators of this relationship. With a sample of 417 restaurant and retail employees, the results from logistic regression analyses demonstrated that possessing a visible tattoo was associated with increased odds of experiencing unwanted sexual attention. Perceived inclusion climate attenuated this relationship, whereby individuals with visible tattoos were less likely to experience unwanted sexual attention in a more favorable climate. Although perceived sexual harassment climate was directly related to unwanted sexual attention, it did not moderate the visible tattoo-unwanted sexual attention relationship.

Improving the measurement of sexual harassment climate

Improving the measurement of sexual harassment climate

And justice for all: How organizational justice climate deters sexual harassment

AbstractSexual harassment is hurtful for victims, observers, and the organizations that employ them. Although previous studies have identified numerous gender‐specific antecedents such as sex similarity and climate for sexual harassment, the present study considers the role of a more general contextual construct—organizational justice climate. Beyond examining justice climate as a predictor of sexual harassment, we also assess its potential moderation of well‐established relationships between antecedents (i.e., climate for sexual harassment and sex similarity) and sexual harassment at both the individual and unit levels. In two large military samples (Ns = 26,018 and 8,197), we found that psychological and collective justice climates (a) related negatively to sexual harassment and (b) moderated the effects of sex similarity and sexual harassment climate on sexual harassment. These findings indicate that harassment is less prevalent and established antecedents are less impactful when greater value is perceived to be placed on fairness. Moreover, the attenuating effects of justice climate appear interchangeable with those of harassment climate or sex similarity, suggesting that managing justice climate effectively generally helps to deter sexual harassment.

Managers’ reactions to customer vs coworker sexual harassment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how managers react to sexual harassment as a function of the harasser role that includes a customer as a source of harassment and an organization’s climate for sexual harassment.Design/methodology/approachUsing an experiment with a 2 (harasser role: coworker or customer) × 2 (organizational climate of sexual harassment: tolerates or does not tolerate) between-subjects design, 162 hotel managers were randomly assigned to read one of four conditions.FindingsBoth the harasser role and organization’s climate for sexual harassment influenced the managers’ sexual harassment reactions, specifically whether they label the incident as sexual harassment and attribute responsibility to the organization. The managers’ gender was found to moderate these relationships.Practical implicationsThe results underscore the importance of understanding reactions to sexual harassment because, regardless of who harasses (coworker or customer) and the organizational climate (tolerates or does not tolerate sexual harassment), sexual harassment of any form can be harmful for the well-being of hospitality employees. These results also provide educational implications.Originality/valueThis is the first known experimental study to examine how hospitality managers react to sexual harassment when the harasser role includes a customer versus a coworker. The results illustrate that the same sexually harassing behavior was perceived less negatively – in regard to both the labeling and attribution of organizational responsibility – when it was done by a customer than by a coworker.

Evaluating a brief scale measuring psychological climate for sexual harassment.

Evaluating a brief scale measuring psychological climate for sexual harassment.

Evaluating a Brief Scale Measuring Psychological Climate for Sexual Harassment

We evaluated the measurement properties of the psychological climate for sexual harassment (PCSH) questionnaire with data from women officers (n = 311) in the Swedish Armed Forces. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a two-factor solution assessing risks and seriousness/actions associated with sexual harassment episodes described the underlying pattern of correlations among items. Correlational and regression analyses showed that ratings of perceived intolerance for sexual harassment were associated with high ratings of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and (positive) mental health; and decreased ratings of psychological distress. We discuss the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of our findings for future research.

Cross‐level, three‐way interactions among work‐group climate, gender, and frequency of harassment on morale and withdrawal outcomes of sexual harassment

We examined the effects of gender and work‐groups' perceptions of climate for sexual harassment on the relationship between individuals' sexual harassment experiences and job‐related outcomes (namely, job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, work withdrawal, and job withdrawal). Drawing from a variety of theories, we proposed that a beneficial climate would buffer men from negative outcomes, but would intensify negative outcomes for women. Significant three‐way interactions were found for job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, and job withdrawal. Results indicated that beneficial work‐group climate perceptions buffered men from decrements in job satisfaction and work withdrawal, but intensified decrements in all three outcomes for women. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Sex and ethnicity as moderators in the sexual harassment phenomenon: A revision and test of Fitzgerald et al. (1994).

Fitzgerald, Hulin, and Drasgow (1994) proposed that personal vulnerability characteristics (such as sex and ethnicity) would moderate the effect of sexual harassment on its outcomes. This paper argues that personal vulnerability characteristics instead moderate the effect of organizational sexual harassment climate on sexual harassment because of their role as identity markers within social hierarchies. Using a sample of nearly 8,000 male and female military personnel from four ethnicity groups, the proposition that organizational climate differentially affects sexual harassment frequency across sex and ethnicity was evaluated. Results suggested that sex is an important moderator of these relationships, but that ethnicity is not. Further, sex and ethnicity were not found to moderate the effect of sexual harassment on its outcomes. Potential generalizability of these results to other types of harassment (e.g., racial harassment, bullying), as well as needed future research in this area, is discussed.

A META‐ANALYSIS OF THE ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF WORKPLACE SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Sexual harassment (SH) has been identified as one of the most damaging and ubiquitous barriers to career success and satisfaction for women. This study meta‐analyzed data from 41 studies, with a total sample size of nearly 70,000 respondents, to examine several negative consequences of workplace SH as well as how situational factors may play a role in facilitating these occurrences. SH experiences are associated with negative outcomes such as decreased job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment, withdrawing from work, ill physical and mental health, and even symptoms of post‐traumatic stress disorder. In addition, organizational climate for SH figured prominently in facilitating these occurrences.

The sexual harassment of men: Evidence for a broader theory of sexual harassment and sex discrimination.

The article imposes a social science framework on a law-based theory of sexual harassment forwarded by Katherine Franke (1997), which sought to address shortcomings of extant theory and to account for atypical forms of sexual harassment, notably male same-sex sexual harassment (SSSH). Sex-role spillover theory, sexual harassment climate theory, and Person × Situation theory are discussed with regard to their ability to account for SSSH. Preliminary postulates of this framework are tested with data from the 1995 Department of Defense sexual harassment survey of the U.S. military (J. E. Edwards, T. W. Elig, D. L. Edwards, & R. A. Riemer (1997). The results suggest that SSSH occurs because targeted men do not fit their offenders' gender-role stereotype of heterosexual hypermasculinity. Legal and workplace implications are discussed in an effort to expand existing theories and policies regarding sexual harassment to this more encompassing view.

Antecedents and consequences of sexual harassment in organizations: a test of an integrated model.

Sexual harassment of women in organizational settings has recently become a topic of interest to researchers and the general public alike. Although numerous studies document its frequency, the development of conceptual models identifying antecedents and consequences of harassment has proceeded at a slower pace. In this article, an empirical test of a recently proposed conceptual model is described. According to the model, organizational climate for sexual harassment and job gender context are critical antecedents of sexual harassment; harassment, in turn, influences work-related variables (e.g., job satisfaction); psychological states (e.g., anxiety and depression); and physical health. On the basis of a sample of women employed at a large, regulated utility company, the model's predictions were generally supported.