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Exploring Retaliation as a Coping Strategy in Response to Customer Sexual Harassment

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Abstract

Sexual harassment has long been studied as a gendered form of discrimination and a way to assert social dominance. Women working in customer service positions regularly cope with customer sexual harassment (CSH). This paper reports two studies that examine retaliation toward the customer as a way for service workers to both assert power and to cope when faced with CSH. The first study predicted that retaliation would share a common superordinate factor structure with four traditional coping strategies (i.e., social, advocacy seeking, avoidance, and negotiation). The second study hypothesized a latent variable model in which retaliation serves as a buffer between CSH and posttraumatic stress. Additionally, customer power was hypothesized as an antecedent to CSH and retaliation. Both studies used samples of women undergraduate students who were employed at least 10 hours per week as customer service workers in the southeastern U.S. The first study (N = 194) found support for the hypothesized factor structure; retaliation was related to, but distinguishable from more traditional styles of sexual harassment coping. The second study (N = 210) found support for the proposed mediational model. Limitations and future directions for research are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Sadie O’Neill for her help in preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of West Florida, 11000 University Parkway, Pensacola, FL, 32514, USA

    Valerie J. Morganson

  2. Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Debra A. Major

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  1. Valerie J. Morganson
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Correspondence to Valerie J. Morganson.

Appendix

Appendix

Items from retaliation measure

Directions: Think about the kinds of customer behavior described in the last section. Select the one incident that made the greatest impression upon you. Indicate how well the following statements describe how you responded when the incident occurred

1. Made the customer wait (e.g., placing them on hold for a long period of time).

2. Refused to assist the customer (e.g., hanging up on them).

3. Treated the customer just as he/she had mistreated me.

4. Acted sarcastically toward the customer.

5. "Acted dumb" to avoid helping the customer.

6. Pretended to be helpful in an obnoxious way.

  1. Note. Responses range from 1 (not at all descriptive) to 5 (extremely descriptive)

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Morganson, V.J., Major, D.A. Exploring Retaliation as a Coping Strategy in Response to Customer Sexual Harassment. Sex Roles 71, 83–94 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-014-0373-9

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