Incidence and methodology in sexual harassment research in northwest Europe

A substantial body of research addressing the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace has been developed over the past decade. In this article, we present the results of our review study of research on sexual harassment in the workplace in 11 Northern and Western European countries and consider the complexity of cross-cultural comparisons of the incidence rates of sexual harassment. In 1997, we reviewed 74 surveys and qualitative studies conducted between 1987 and 1997. Sexual harassment appears to be a workplace problem in ail countries. although the incidence varies considerably. We argue that differences in incidence rates are not. for the most part, a reflection of national cultural differences, hut are partly due to the definitions and methodology used in the studies. This implies that higher reported incidence figures in one country do not necessarily reflect a higher prevalence of sexual harassment compared to other countries. Less speculative is the comparison of incidence figures of sexual harassment from the perspective of organizational culture. Several organizational characteristics seem to facilitate the occurrence of sexual harassment. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. Ail rights reserved.