The Effects of Anticipated Future Interaction on Employees’ Responses Following Sexual Harassment Experiences

Details

• Personal Author:
  Magley V ; Nelson K
• Description:
  Those with whom we work often "make or break" the work environment, especially when considering workplace mistreatment; yet, research has not examined how employees react when colleagues with whom they must frequently interact have sexually harassed them. Although sexual harassment can be a one-time occurrence, research shows that these experiences and their consequences are often ongoing (Glomb et al., 1999). Thus, we propose that it is important to distinguish between victims who anticipate interacting with the perpetrator again and those who do not to better understand victims' responses. We address this gap by exploring how this anticipation affects victims' appraisals and coping using uncertainty reduction and transactional stress theory frameworks. According to uncertainty reduction theory, people are motivated to reduce uncertainty when deviant behavior has occurred, they anticipate future interaction, and there is incentive to act (Berger, 1979). Thus, this theory seems to suggest that sexual harassment victims anticipating future interaction with a perpetrator might be more motivated to reduce uncertainty than those who do not. However, whereas the anticipated future interaction literature focuses on initial interactions, workplace relationships often have some level of familiarity. Therefore, anticipated future interaction in workplace relationships may be perceived differently, especially for sexual harassment, and these differences may influence appraisals and coping. In the current research, we operationalize appraisal and coping by drawing on transactional stress theory. Previous research has shown that victims of sexual harassment cope in various ways. Whereas some victims utilize indirect methods (e.g., avoidance), others use direct methods (e.g., assertion: Magley, 2002). Notably, victims utilize direct methods less often because of higher perceived risk (Gutek & Koss, 1993). The current study examines two strategies, assertion and formal relief, to better understand anticipated future interaction's impact on direct coping. However, according to theory, coping cannot be fully understood without first considering appraisal as an important mechanism influencing coping choice (Lazarus & Folkman, 1987). We operationalize appraisal as victims' perceptions that their situation is changeable and examine it as a mediator between experiences and coping. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Violence Workplace
• Keywords:
  Abuse Psychological Factors Psychological Responses Psychology Stress Work Environment Work Organization
• Publisher:
  Society for Occupational Health Psychology
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Newsletter
• Place as Subject:
  Connecticut ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  5-7
• Volume:
  20
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20063981
• Citation:
  Society for Occupational Health Psychology Newsletter 2018 Fall; 20:5-7
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  University of Connecticut Storrs
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Society for Occupational Health Psychology Newsletter
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:84da05d2166513654c01f06629a5f4a38f321646663c477e13a91a630a051b9f2acc76f12ee4e0817020f6741dc54793c1d44630b5fd6bed3ff595fb80cbe7fa
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/222511/cdc_222511_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.04 MB ]