Drawing the line: How the workplace shapes the naming of sexual harassment

Although sexual harassment naming – the process by which individuals identify and label experiences as sexual harassment – is key to tackling the problem of workplace sexual harassment, extant research focused on individual differences has explained a limited amount of variance in individuals’ propensity to name. We push this research in a new direction, drawing on institutional theory and strategic human resource management to identify workplace contextual factors that influence individuals’ propensity to name sexual harassment. Surveying 408 employed adults, we find that current employment in an industry with a high prevalence of sexual harassment reduces individuals’ likelihood of identifying scenarios as sexual harassment. Further, prior work experience in highly sexually harassing industries has a lasting negative effect on individuals’ propensity to name. In contrast, we show that individuals’ propensity to identify sexual harassment is greater when they perceive that their organization has implemented more HR practices supporting a climate for naming and that these HR practices can actually reduce the negative effect of current employment in a highly sexually harassing industry. Critically, by demonstrating that changing industry norms or adopting specific HR practices can shift individual naming of sexual harassment, we offer new avenues for sexual harassment prevention.