ABSTRACT
Over the past fifteen years it has become apparent that sexual harassment is a common and serious problem in organizations (Gutek 1985; MacKinnon 1979). Individuals' perceptions of what constitutes sexual harassment may vary based on a number of situational factors such as the relative power of the harasser, group norms, and the type and frequency of the harassing behavior (Collins and Blodgett 1981; Konrad and Gutek 1986). Further, personal characteristics of the harassees, such as their race, gender, religion, marital status, sex-role attitudes, work experience, and self-esteem may influence perceptions of and reactions to potentially harassing behaviors {Baker et al. 1990; Gutek 1985). Estimates of the frequency of sexual harassment vary widely depending on the sample and research methods employed; however, a large-scale study done by the United States Merit Systems Protection Board (USMSPB) (1981) found that 42 percent of female and 14 percent of male federal government workers were victims of such behaviors. The occurrence of sexual harassment can have severe physiological and psychological effects on individuals and can lead to increased turnover and absenteeism (Crull 1982). Further, the climate and effectiveness of the work groups within which such incidents occur is often degraded, resulting in lowered productivity (USMSPB 1988).
