Sexual harassment has significant adverse psychological and physical effects on employees and can negatively impact the workplace, and overall business operations. A gap in current research was identified concerning whether the employee's sex affects employee's perceived workplace sexual harassment climate, sexual harassment experience, and perceived safety from sexual harassment. This study examined the effects of employee workplace sexual harassment experience and perception of workplace sexual harassment psychological climate on employee's perceived safety from sexual harassment moderated by sex. Results showed that perceived workplace sexual harassment climate and employee workplace sexual harassment experience were both significant predictors of perceived safety from sexual harassment. Additionally, the findings revealed that for both men and women, high intolerance for sexual harassment and low employee sexual harassment experience were significantly associated with increased perceived safety from sexual harassment. When perceived workplace sexual harassment climate and employee sexual harassment experience were observed together, only perceived workplace sexual harassment climate was associated with increased perceived safety from sexual harassment. Further research into diverse populations and anti-harassment programming's impact on perceived safety may provide further insights. The findings from this study could assist decision-makers in organizations to promote better physical, psychological, and emotional security in the workplace. Therefore, reducing sexual harassment in the workplace would promote positive social change by reducing the number of adverse events affecting individuals, businesses, and society.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Feeling powerful or possessing power over someone is often shown in the sexual harassment literature as an antecedent. Indeed, power can be construed in a self-focused manner or in a responsibility-focused manner. Tost (2015) theorized that powerholders who construe their power as responsibility should then act for the benefit of others. However, a recent study by Stockdale, Gilmer, and Dinh (2019) found the opposite effect. Specifically, they found that priming responsibility-focused power increased the intention to sexually harass, speculating that priming such powers may have created a “moral license” (Miller & Effron, 2010) to engage in sexual harassment. The purpose of the present study is to extend their findings by examining the role of moral licensing. I hypothesize that participants who are in the responsibility-focused power priming condition will engage in sexual harassment proclivities through a serial mediation of communal feelings and moral licensing (moral crediting and moral credentialing). Results confirm that communal feelings and moral crediting serially mediate the relationship between responsibility-focused power and sexual harassment proclivities. The hypothesized role of moral credentialing was not supported. Findings in this study provides a potential explanation for the paradoxical findings of responsibility-focused power in Stockdale et al. (2019)’s study. This study also emphasizes the importance of understanding responsibility-focused power in sexual harassment indices and the potential the ironic effects of having such power via moral crediting.

Thesis advisor: Alyssa Goldman / This research aims to investigate if the undergraduate Greek life involvement percentage on college campuses can influence the vernacular and phrasing found in sexual harassment policies in universities. A matching approach is utilized to compare schools with similar geographic locations, undergraduate population sizes, religious affiliation and status as a public or private school, who only differ in what percentage of their undergraduate population is involved in Greek life. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

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All students should be guaranteed a learning environment that is free from all forms of harassment that negatively affect the school climate as well as the learning environment. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the perceptions and attitudes of Sullivan County, Tennessee, K-12 administrators regarding harassment and the associated legal liability. The study also ascertained the attitudes of the administrators pertaining to various forms of student-to-student harassment in their schools, collected data regarding their perceptions of the effectiveness of mandated anti-harassment measures, and examined administrators' attitudes toward the need for more harassment-avoidance training. The research design was descriptive and used data gathered from a survey instrument developed by the researcher regarding administrators' perceptions and attitudes regarding harassment and the associated legal liability. The survey contained 26 question-items. The study's population consisted of 48 Sullivan County administrators. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance, t test, Pearson's correlation, Tamhane post hoc pairwise comparison, and Tukey post hoc test. The results of the study indicated that administrators were knowledgeable about the law and legal ramifications regarding student-to-student harassment. The results also showed that middle and high school students needed more harassment-avoidance training than elementary students. No significant differences were found in their perceptions of the current status of harassment based on population, socioeconomic status, or level of the school. The study offers a valuable insight into administrators' perception and attitudes regarding harassment and the associated legal liability. It also offers a number of recommendations including the need for more harassment-avoidance training to combat this problem for middle and high school students. Effective implementation of bullying prevention programs will need to involve all school stakeholders in order to be successful. The results may be used by school systems to plan for future staff development regarding harassment-avoidance training. Students have a right to feel safe at school as they grow and mature into adulthood. It is the duty of all schools to provide them that safe and secure atmosphere.

Whether an individual perceives an appearance compliment in the workplace as sexual harassment may depend on a number of factors such as the gender and/or status of the complimenter. Three hundred eighty-three (130 males, 253 females) participants completed an online survey in which they read and rated six different hypothetical vignettes imagining themselves as the recipient of an appearance compliment from a male superior, subordinate, and peer, as well as a female in each of those three status positions. Participants also filled out the Big Five Inventory (BFI; see John, Naumann, & Soto, 2008) in order to assess how personality may influence harassment perceptions. Females perceived opposite-sex appearance compliments as more harassing than males did (p < .001, d = 1.33), and males perceived same-sex compliments as more harassing than females did (p < .001, d = 0.85). Appearance compliments from those in the three status positions were also perceived differently (p < .001, np2 = .29) with compliments from superiors perceived as more harassing than from peers (p < .001) and subordinates (p < .001), and subordinates perceived as more harassing than peers (p < .001). Three of the Big Five personality factors (Conscientiousness, b = 9.93, p < .001; Neuroticism, b = 9.46, p < .001; and Openness, b = -5.04, p = .04) were predictive of harassment perceptions (R2 = .087, p < .001). Based on these findings, it is recommended that males and those in superior status positions avoid giving appearance compliments in the workplace.

The present research examined the influence of military status, organizational climate type, gender, and attitudes toward sexual harassment on juror decisions in a sexual harassment trial. Military participants rated themselves as having more stereotypical masculine characteristics and they rated sexual harassment allegations more seriously. The permissive climate type elicited less serious allegation ratings. Females rated all climates as more permissive, found the defendant more liable, and chose more severe punishments. Tolerant attitudes toward sexual harassment predicted juror decisions for both ROTC and civilian mock jurors. The results highlight the need for further education about sexual harassment to reduce tolerant attitudes and permissive organizational climates, and to increase fairness in harassment trials.

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