Sexual Harassment: Do Perceptions Differ Across Race and Sex?

Sexual harassment is a prevalent problem in the business world today. It interferes with effective organizational performance and has significant physical and psychological consequences for the direct victim (e.g., Gutek & Koss, 1993, Hanisch, 1996) and any indirect victims (e.g., Glomb, Richman, Hulin, Drasgow, Schneider, & Fitzgerald, 1997). The past two decades have seen a proliferation of research on the frequency of sexual harassment (Cohen & Gutek, 1985; Fitzgerald & Hesson-McInnis, 1989; Gutek & Koss, 1993), as well as how individuals perceive the harasser, the victim, and the situation (Corr & Jackson, 2001; Henry & Meltzof, 1998; Perry, Schmidtke, & Kulik, 1998). Unfortunately, few studies have examined the effects of racial or ethnic differences on perceptions of sexual harassment. In addition, most research has used the stereotypical female victim/male harasser scenario and ignored males as potential victims. The present study addressed these gaps in the literature by analyzing perceptions of harassment utilizing both male and female victims from different racial classifications