Perception of harassing communication as a function of locus of control, work force participation, and gender

Abstract

Both individual and contextual factors influence the way people process information and arrive at the perception that a communication message is sexually harassing. This study examined the influence of locus of control and gender on perception of sexually harassing communication across two samples: college students and adults working full time in their chosen careers. Results indicate that locus of control had little effect on females’ perceptions but influenced males’ such that internal males were significantly less likely to label behaviors as harassment. External males, by comparison, approximated females’ perceptions of sexual harassing communication.

In addition the full‐time workers were more cognizant of harassment than college students, primarily due to increased awareness in adult males. As expected, females labeled more behaviors harassing than did males, however this discrepancy decreased with experience in the work force.

Key concepts:

• Sexual harassment
• locus of control
• gender
• work force participation
• intimidating communication