Improving Organizational Responses to Sexual Harassment Using the Giving Voice to Values Approach

Despite significant expenditures on organizational responses to sexual harassment, it remains a persistent challenge. We argue that the legal environment has unduly and negatively influenced the ways in which organizations address the problem of sexual harassment and offer an alternative. Giving Voice to Values (GVV) is an action-oriented approach to business ethics education that can be used to improve the ways in which organizations address the phenomenon of sexual harassment (SH). Because of its focus on action and expressing personal values, GVV can be used to prepare targets, observers, and managers to intervene in instances where they may encounter this behavior at work. The original contribution of this article is a detailed application of GVV to the unique organizational issue of SH training. Ways of developing dialogue in response to sexual behavior at work are presented and implications of the GVV approach are discussed

Actions speak louder than words: outsiders' perceptions of diversity mixed messages

To attract a gender diverse workforce, many employers use diversity statements to publicly signal that they value gender diversity. However, this often represents a misalignment between words and actions (i.e., a diversity mixed message) because most organizations are male dominated, especially in board positions. We conducted 3 studies to investigate the potentially indirect effect of such diversity mixed messages through perceived behavioral integrity on employer attractiveness. In Study 1, following a 2 x 2 design, participants (N = 225) were either shown a pro gender diversity statement or a neutral statement, in combination with a gender diverse board (4 men and 4 women) or a uniform all-male board (8 men). Participants' perceived behavioral integrity of the organization was assessed. In Study 2, participants (N = 251) either read positive or negative reviews of the organization's behavioral integrity. Employer attractiveness was then assessed. Study 3 (N = 427) investigated the impact of board gender composition on perceived behavioral integrity and employer attractiveness using a bootstrapping procedure. Both the causal-chain design of Study 1 and 2, as well as the significance test of the proposed indirect relationship in Study 3, revealed that a diversity mixed message negatively affected an organization's perceived behavioral integrity, and low behavioral integrity in turn negatively impacted employer attractiveness. In Study 3, there was also evidence for a tipping point (more than 1 woman on the board was needed) with regard to participants' perceptions of the organization's behavioral integrity

Risqué Business? Interpersonal Anxiety and Humor in the #MeToo Era

This is the author accepted manuscript. the final version is available from the American Psychological Association via the DOI in this recordInterpersonal anxiety (i.e., the fear of negative consequences from interacting with someone) may be more prominent in post-#MeToo organizations when interacting with someone of a different gender. Initial exchanges may particularly trigger this anxiety, obfuscating key organizational decisions such as hiring. Given humor’s positive, intrapersonal stress-reduction effects, we propose that humor also reduces interpersonal anxiety. In three mixed methods experiments with hiring managers, we examined the effects of applicant and evaluator gender (i.e., same-/mixed-gender dyad), positive applicant humor (i.e., a pun), and context (i.e., gender salience) in job interviews. Results showed that mixed-gender (vs. same-gender) interactions elicited more interpersonal anxiety, particularly when gender was more salient; mixed-gender interactions also predicted downstream attitudinal outcomes (e.g., social attraction and willingness to hire) and hiring decisions (e.g., selection and rejection) via interpersonal anxiety. Although humor reduced interpersonal anxiety and its consequences for female applicants, the opposite was true for male applicants when gender was salient, because it signaled some of the same expectations that initially triggered the interpersonal anxiety: the potential for harmful sexual behavior. In sum, we integrated diversity and humor theories to examine interpersonal anxiety in same- and mixed-gender interactions, then tested the extent to which humor relieved it.Swiss National Science Foundatio

Dangerous work: The gendered nature of bullying in the context of higher education

This paper discusses results from a research project which set out to investigate gender differences in the nature and experience of bullying within the higher education sector. Gender differences emerged in the form and perception of bullying as well as in target response. Results also indicate that, irrespective of gender, bullies can capture and subvert organizational structures and procedures (official hierarchies, mentoring systems, probationary reviews) to further their abuse of the target and to conceal aggressive intent. These outcomes are discussed in relation to gendered assumptions behind management practices and in relation to the masculinist ethic that underpins many higher education management initiatives. Overall, results indicate that bullying cannot be divorced from gender and that such behaviour needs to be seen in a gendered context

“It Was Only Harmless Banter!” The development and preliminary validation of the moral disengagement in sexual harassment scale.

Sexual harassment represents aggressive behavior that is often enacted instrumentally, in response to a threatened sense of masculinity and male identity. To date, however, theoretical attention to the social cognitive processes that regulate workplace harassment is scant. This article presents the development and preliminary validation of the Moral Disengagement in Sexual Harassment Scale (MDiSH); a self-report measure of moral disengagement in the context of hostile work environment harassment. Three studies (total N = 797) document the excellent psychometric properties of this new scale. Male U.K. university students (Study 1: N = 322) and U.S. working males (Studies 2 and 3: N = 475) completed the MDiSH and an array of measures for construct validation. The MDiSH exhibited positive correlations with sexual harassment myth acceptance, male gender identification, and hostile sexism. In Study 3, participants were exposed to a fictitious case of hostile work environment harassment. The MDiSH attenuated moral judgment, negative emotions (guilt, shame, and anger), sympathy, and endorsement of prosocial behavioral intentions (support for restitution) associated with the harassment case. Conversely, the MDiSH increased positive affect (happiness) about the harassment and attribution of blame to the female complainant. Implications for practice and future research avenues are discussed

Observers\u27 reactions to social-sexual behavior at work: An ethical decision-making perspective

This dissertation contributes to the understanding of sexual harassment by developing an ethical decision making perspective of the phenomenon that offers unique insight into why some individuals are more likely than others to intervene in an incident of social-sexual behavior that they witness in the workplace. I examine how social-sexual behaviors that vary in moral intensity influence both the perceptions and intentions of individuals who observe (but are not directly involved in) such behavior as well as identify individual and situational variables that influence observers\u27 reactions.^ Participants responded to vignettes describing an incident of social-sexual behavior initiated by a man named John and directed at a woman named Susan. Three components of moral intensity (social consensus, proximity to the target, and magnitude of consequences) were manipulated in the vignettes resulting in a 3 x 2 x 2 factorial design. Each participant responded to one vignette and completed additional instruments. All participants were employed full-time in the United States.^ Multiple regression and moderated regression analyses were used to determine the effects of moral intensity, personal characteristics of observers, and situational characteristics on observers\u27 recognition of an ethical issue and their intentions to intervene in the incident.^ This study makes several important contributions to existing research. It provides the first theoretical examination of the phenomenon of sexual harassment from an ethical decision making perspective. My results provide support for an ethical decision making model of observers\u27 intentions to intervene in that (1) the components of moral intensity influenced the extent to which potentially harassing behavior was recognized as an ethical issue, and (2) recognizing the incident as an ethical issue led observers to state intentions to intervene. Furthermore, my results provide the first information regarding the characteristics of observers who are willing to intervene in an incident of sexual harassment and the conditions under which they are willing to intervene.

Risqué business? Interpersonal anxiety and humor in the #MeToo era

Interpersonal anxiety (i.e., the fear of negative consequences from interacting with someone) may be more prominent in post-#MeToo organizations when interacting with someone of a different gender. Initial exchanges may particularly trigger this anxiety, obfuscating key organizational decisions such as hiring. Given humor's positive, personal stress-reduction effects, we propose that humor also reduces personal anxiety. In three mixed-methods experiments with hiring managers, we examined the effects of applicant and evaluator gender (i.e., same-/mixed-gender dyad), positive applicant humor (i.e., a pun), and context (i.e., gender salience) in job interviews. Results showed that mixed-gender (vs. same-gender) interactions elicited more interpersonal anxiety, particularly when gender was more salient; mixed-gender interactions also predicted downstream attitudinal outcomes (e.g., social attraction and willingness to hire) and hiring decisions (e.g., selection and rejection) via interpersonal anxiety. Although humor reduced interpersonal anxiety and its consequences for female applicants, the opposite was true for male applicants when gender was salient, because it signaled some of the same expectations that initially triggered the interpersonal anxiety: the potential for harmful sexual behavior. In sum, we integrated diversity and humor theories to examine interpersonal anxiety in same- and mixed-gender interactions and then tested the extent to which humor relieved it. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Beyond the Business Case: An Ethical Perspective of Diversity Training

Extant literature on diversity training programs continues to yield little evidence of their overall effectiveness. Whereas the most common approach to diversity training entails justifying the value of diversity on the basis of its contribution to the organization\u27s bottom line, we argue that approaching diversity training from an ethical perspective may bolster the effectiveness of traditional approaches. Specifically, to the degree that traditional bottom-line justifications are enhanced with social justice arguments, training effectiveness will increase. In the following article, we discuss traditional approaches to diversity training, provide a general overview of ethics, discuss how theory and research from behavioral ethics literature might help to address some of the challenges faced in diversity training, and draw from ethics literature to make specific, novel suggestions about the implementation and presentation of diversity training. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc