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Managing Workplace Sexual Harassment: The Role of Manager Training

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Abstract

Sexual harassment remains a persistent problem for businesses. Indeed, employers spend millions annually in sexual harassment litigation and liability costs. Furthermore, current U.S. law effectively makes it management's responsibility to implement programs to prevent and correct harassment, or else face heightened liability. A common element of prevention programs is training, especially for employees in positions of authority. Several states have gone so far as to mandate sexual harassment training. However, little research exists to demonstrate the efficacy of such training programs. It is known that training sensitizes people in recognizing harassment. However, no research has indicated that training enables managers to accurately identify harassment and respond appropriately. This exploratory study addresses this issue by examining whether training quantity (i.e., cumulative training hours), training variety (i.e., the number of training methods employed), and training recency (i.e., the elapsed time since training) predict a manager's ability to (a) accurately identify sexual harassment and (b) recommend an appropriate response. Results suggest that, while training increases sensitivity, training is associated with decreased accuracy in identification of sexual harassment. No relationship was found among the predictor variables and manager accuracy in recommending an appropriate response. Implications concerning these results are offered along with directions for future research.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Linda K. Robinson and Ms. Jesse Whitaker for their help in the data collection process. Funding for this project was provided by Appalachian State’s Graduate Research Associate Mentoring Program and the Office of Student Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. North Carolina Court of Appeals, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Grant E. Buckner

  2. Department of Management, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, 28608, USA

    Hugh D. Hindman & Jacqueline Z. Bergman

  3. Department of Psychology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA

    Timothy J. Huelsman

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  1. Grant E. Buckner
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  2. Hugh D. Hindman
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  3. Timothy J. Huelsman
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  4. Jacqueline Z. Bergman
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Correspondence to Hugh D. Hindman.

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This research was conducted pursuant to Mr. Buckner’s Master’s Thesis in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and Human Resource Management at Appalachian State University. Mr. Buckner is currently Judicial Clerk to the Honorable Robert N. Hunter, Jr., North Carolina Court of Appeals. The ideas and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not reflect the ideas and opinions of Judge Hunter or the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

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Buckner, G.E., Hindman, H.D., Huelsman, T.J. et al. Managing Workplace Sexual Harassment: The Role of Manager Training. Employ Respons Rights J 26, 257–278 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-014-9248-z

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