Abstract

Sexual Harassment (SH) has been a prevalent issue within the workplace. Observer behavior is when employees are trained to identify and intervene in situations of SH. The traditional SH framework has focused on the legal compliance of employees rather than appealing to their moral reasoning. Furthermore, in most SH training typically depicts an SH situation with a white man who identifies as heterosexual as the perpetrator and a white woman as the victim. The Sex-Based Harassment (SBH) framework aims to address various intersections of racial, sexual, and gender identity within the context of SH. The current study examined the role of social identity on observer intervention behavior using the Observer Intervention in Sexual Harassment (OISH) measure informed by the SBH framework. It is hypothesized that participants who have past SH experience and/or identify as people of color, women, or sexual minorities are more likely to engage in observer behavior. Our original hypotheses had null findings and further analysis provided limited significant findings. These findings show that observer intervention behavior is not dependent on experiencing/witnessing SH. This study is important to improve the effectiveness of training to equip employees with the tools to better identify and intervene in situations of SH in the workplace.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2022

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Jex, Steve

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree Program

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0008999; DP0026332

URL

https://purls.library.ucf.edu/go/DP0026332

Language

English

Release Date

May 2022

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

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