ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the individual employee perceptions of law and considers the role of various aspects of social context. It also focuses on the national context to describe the role of social context on understandings of law and its implementation. On the basis of the dependent variables of 'illegality', the chapter quantitatively examines the role of organizational and national aspects of social context on individual estimations of illegality. The organizational context also contributes to perceptions about law. Organizations present norms of informal exchanges and disagreements and often provide rules regulating employees and internal disputes. Employees rated the legality or illegality of the conduct described along an ordinal scale, from absolutely legal, probably legal, probably illegal to absolutely illegal. Believing conduct is illegal, and thinking something should be done about it, are, in reality, two different things. In the sexual harassment context, most punitive action takes place, not in the courts, but within organizations.
