ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on three components of the national context. First, there is the formal law and legal system including statutes, court decisions, legal rules and regulatory guidelines. Second, the national context includes legal culture or the norms associated with law, such as the emergence of sexual harassment law, the acceptance of legal claims for immaterial damages, access to lawyers and judicial receptivity to claims. Finally, the third component of national context is social norms. The chapter also focuses on two aspects of the organizational context in the study: organizational characteristics, such as industry, size and employee composition, and organizational culture, including the beliefs, patterns and practices internal to the firm. It concentrates on organizational case studies to explore the influence of organizational context as part of the social context on the understandings and implementation of sexual harassment law. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
