Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Research in Human Resource Management
Year: 2024
DOI:
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A Model of How Sexual Harassment Perceptions Impact Gender-Related Mentoring
Thomas R. Tudor, Stephanie D. Gapud, Naeem Bajwa
ABSTRACT:
The need for protection of mostly women against sexual harassment is strongly evident from the numerous and valid complaints that continue in the workplace. Laws and enforcement have been strengthened. Unfortunately, the clear advantages and legal needs to having sexual harassment policies to protect these women may also lead to an undesirable disadvantage when trying to advance in the workplace. Specifically, the increased sensitivity by men of a potentially false sexual harassment claim may negatively impact a large segment of working women, by potentially decreasing important mentoring that may help lead to advancement. A survey of working professionals was used to investigate the impact of sexual harassment legislation and workplace implementation on mentoring and advancement issues for women. Significant findings suggest that companies redesign their sexual harassment training programs and policies to not only protect mostly female workers from unwanted sexual attention, but also to fully maintain the organization’s advancement opportunities for them. Such as, strengthening, and redesigning mentoring programs. Other results and recommendations are shared including a model to help increase our understanding of the impact of sexual harassment perceptions on mentoring opportunities for women.
Keywords: Sexual Harassment, mentoring, workplace perceptions, social exchange theory