The cognitive, affective, and behavioral repercussions of workplace social-sexual behavior

Abstract

The cognitive, affective, and behavioral repercussions of workplace social-sexual behavior were investigated in a multivariate, repeated measures design. This research provided a test of the Natural-Biological, Sociocultural, and Organizational Models of sexual harassment. Forty-two professional women received an audio simulation of direct sexual harassment (DSH); and forty-two received an audio simulation of sexualization of the workplace (SWP). Counterbalanced to control for order effects, participants listened to the simulation twice, once imagining the initiator of the harassment was their boss/supervisor and once imagining the initiator was their coworker. Fewer participants agreed that SWP was sexual harassment as compared to DSH. DSH resulted in significantly more dysphoria, other-person blame, and assertion as compared to SWP. DSH by a boss or coworker resulted in relatively greater dysphoria than SWP by a boss or coworker; and self-blame was relatively greater for SWP by a boss as compared to DSH, which effect reversed when the initiator was a coworker. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)