Initial assessment of the psychometric properties of the Sexual Harassment Reporting Attitudes Scale

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics from the SHRAS pilot study

	Relevance		Clarity
	M	SD	M	SD
If someone is being sexually harassed in his or her place of work, then s/he should report it to a supervisor	3.82	0.39	3.86	0.47
Reporting workplace sexual harassment is an effective way of stopping the problem	3.86	0.35	3.86	0.35
A person who reports workplace sexual harassment is just a tattletale	3.05	1.00	3.50	0.86
Reporting workplace sexual harassment creates new problems for everyone	3.23	0.97	3.55	0.67
People should not be afraid to report sexual harassment in their places of work	3.77	0.61	3.86	0.35
Supervisors have better things to do with their time than deal with reports of sexual harassment	3.05	1.13	3.71	0.78
Workplace sexual harassment problems will persist, even if people report them	3.50	0.80	3.77	0.43
Supervisors need to take reports of workplace sexual harassment very seriously	3.50	0.96	3.82	0.50
A person who reports workplace sexual harassment should not be afraid of losing his or her job because of it	3.91	0.29	3.82	0.59
In general, reporting workplace sexual harassment does no good	3.36	1.05	3.55	0.80
A supervisor might not be aware that a sexual harassment problem exists unless it is reported*	3.64	0.73	3.82	0.50
Reporting workplace sexual harassment only makes the problem worse	3.46	0.96	3.73	0.63
Reporting sexual harassment creates tension in the workplace**	3.68	0.48	3.59	0.73
An employee has the right to report workplace sexual harassment to his or her supervisor	3.46	0.74	3.77	0.69
Reporting workplace sexual harassment is the sole responsibility of the person being harassed *	3.27	1.03	3.41	0.91
All things considered, reporting workplace sexual harassment is a waste of time	3.23	1.19	3.77	0.61
People who report workplace sexual harassment risk being looked upon badly by their coworkers	3.77	0.53	3.46	0.80
People who report workplace sexual harassment usually end up getting into trouble for it	3.41	0.80	3.68	0.72
If I felt that I was being sexually harassed at my place of work, I would report it to a supervisor or other authority figure	3.59	0.67	3.86	0.47

*Item omitted from final scale.

**The wording in this item was changed from “creates tension” to “leads to animosity” in the final scale per feedback received from the expert panel.

Figure 1. Scree plot for exploratory factor analysis

Table 2. SHRAS scale items and pattern matrix factor loadings

Item	Risks (α = .86)	Moral Duty (α = .77)	Utility (α = .44)
If someone is being sexually harassed in his or her place of work, then s/he should report it to a supervisor.		.56*	.58
Reporting workplace sexual harassment is an effective way of stopping the problem.			.75
A person who reports workplace sexual harassment is just a tattletale. (reversed)			−.41
Reporting workplace sexual harassment creates new problems for everyone. (reversed)	.66
People should not be afraid to report sexual harassment in their places of work.		.69
Supervisors have better things to do with their time than deal with reports of sexual harassment. (reversed)	.50
Workplace sexual harassment problems will persist, even if people report them. (reversed)	.69
People who witness workplace sexual harassment, but are not harassed themselves, should report it.		.65
Supervisors need to take reports of workplace sexual harassment very seriously.		.80
A person who reports workplace sexual harassment should not be afraid of losing his or her job because of it.		.72
In general, reporting workplace sexual harassment does no good. (reversed)	.77
Reporting workplace sexual harassment only makes the problem worse. (reversed)	.77
Reporting sexual harassment leads to animosity in the workplace. (reversed)	.79
An employee has the right to report workplace sexual harassment to his or her supervisor.		.79
All things considered, reporting workplace sexual harassment is a waste of time. (reversed)	.67
People who report workplace sexual harassment risk being looked upon badly by their coworkers. (reversed)	.75
People who report workplace sexual harassment usually end up getting into trouble for it. (reversed)	.74

Note. Loadings < .4 are omitted. * denotes the subscale this item is included within.

Table 3. Correlations between factors and the full SHRAS

Measure	1	2	3	4	5
1. SHRAS full scale	1
2. SHRAS risks	.90	1
3. SHRAS moral duty	.69	.32	1
4. SHRAS utility	.71	.52	.52	1
5. “I would report”	.42	.28	.47	.32	1

Note. All correlations significant at p < .001.