Although sexual harassment (SH) training is widespread, has many important consequences for individuals and organizations, and is of demonstrated interest to researchers across a wide range of ...disciplines, there has never been a comprehensive, interdisciplinary attempt to identify and systematically evaluate relevant research findings. This article addresses that need in the literature. It discusses the legal context of SH training and its relevance to research issues, provides an organizing framework for understanding the primary factors influencing SH training effectiveness, critically reviews empirical research providing evidence of the effectiveness of SH training, and sets forth a research agenda.
This study provides unique empirical evidence regarding a growing concern internationally: weight discrimination in the workplace. Using survey data from a national sample of 2838 American adults, it ...responds to Puhl and Brownell’s Puhl, R., & Brownell, K. D. (2001). Bias, discrimination, and obesity.
Obesity Research,
9, 788–805 call for additional research investigating the prevalence of discriminatory experience among overweight employees, and to their more specific call for research that takes sex and race into account when examining weight discrimination. The results indicate that women are over 16 times more likely than men to perceive employment related discrimination and identify weight as the basis for their discriminatory experience. In addition, overweight respondents were 12 times more likely than normal weight respondents to report weight-related employment discrimination, obese 37 times more likely, and severely obese more than 100 times more likely. The implications of the study’s findings for organizations, policy makers, overweight employees, and career counselors are discussed, and future research directions suggested.
This study proposes that self-reported work stress among U.S. managers is differentially related (positively and negatively) to work outcomes depending on the stressors that are being evaluated. ...Specific hypotheses were derived from this general proposition and tested using a sample of 1,886 U.S. managers and longitudinal data. Regression results indicate that challenge-related self-reported stress is positively related to job satisfaction and negatively related to job search. In contrast, hindrance-related self-reported stress is negatively related to job satisfaction and positively related to job search and turnover. Future research directions are discussed.
Widespread agreement that training can play a key role in addressing workplace sexual harassment (SH) has led to a dramatic increase in employer‐provided SH training around the world. However, ...summaries of published research have been qualitative in nature and have yielded inconsistent assessments of SH training's effectiveness in fulfilling that role. The study helps address those uncertain and sometimes conflicting assessments by providing the first meta‐analytic investigation of the relationships between SH training and changes in trainees. We found that the largest SH training effect was on declarative knowledge learning (δ = 1.06), followed by attitude change (δ = 0.41), procedural knowledge‐skills learning (δ = 0.39), and transfer outcomes (δ = 0.14). Significant moderating effects were found for scope of training, instructional method, and gender of trainees; however, the results varied by training outcome. The effect of SH training did not vary significantly as a function of the training delivery media, training duration, or training setting. Theoretical implications, directions for future research, and practical implications are discussed.
This article takes an interdisciplinary approach to the issue of weight‐based discrimination in employment, drawing on diverse literatures (psychology, law, sociology, economics), and integrating a ...review of empirical research and a traditional legal analysis. First, empirical research that focuses on the extent of bias against overweight individuals in employment contexts is reviewed and evaluated. Second, current legal requirements relevant to weight‐based discrimination in employment are identified and discussed, and those requirements are applied to the research findings to assess the extent to which the weight‐based bias identified in the reviewed studies involves illegal discrimination. Third, based on the results of the review of the research and legal literatures, future research directions are offered and practical implications for employers and policy makers are identified.
Several factors are combining to make it increasingly important that employers recognize their obligation to accommodate job applicants and employees with obesity-related disabilities, and respond ...effectively to requests for such accommodations when they arise. This article provides analysis and guidance that is intended to assist employers and practitioners in anticipating and responding to requests for obesity-related workplace accommodations. It is based on a review and analysis of all identified U.S. judicial decisions involving obesity-related workplace accommodations that were either voluntarily provided or disputed by an employer. The results of that review and analysis are summarized in a table by the type of accommodation, job, and court ruling (when the accommodation was not voluntarily provided). The table provides a list of potential obesity-related accommodations that is both more comprehensive and more specific than any list previously published in the legal, behavioral sciences, or health literatures. Key legal issues are identified and discussed, and practical guidance is provided. Although the focus is U.S. law, the guidance provided has relevance to employers and practitioners in the European Union, and those countries whose laws recognize that obesity may involve a legally protected disability that entitles an individual to reasonable accommodation in at least some circumstances.
The reported study explores sex differences in both overt and subtle forms of perceived weight discrimination in employment using original data from a telephone survey of 1,010 randomly selected ...residents of Michigan, the only U.S. state with a law prohibiting weight discrimination. Sex differences in the experience of overt forms of weight discrimination (e.g., refusing to hire a person) that have been consistently found in other work and non-work settings were not found in this unique legal context. However, overweight women reported experiencing subtle forms of weight discrimination (e.g., verbal harassment, exclusion from social activities) to a significantly greater extent than men. Implications for employers’ discharge of their responsibilities and for policy makers’ consideration of greater legal protection against weight discrimination are discussed.
This study provides the first meta‐analytic testing of (1) several proposed moderators of the relationship between employee weight and job‐related outcomes (e.g., target gender, target ...qualifications, and rater gender); and (2) the effect of specific design features on the variation in results obtained across relevant experimental studies (e.g., weight manipulation and amount of job‐relevant information). The results indicate that there are important moderators of the relationship between people's weight and job‐related outcomes. However, design feature may significantly influence the obtained results. In particular, inconsistent experimental findings regarding the hypothesized moderating role of target sex appear to be explained by limitations in the way in which target weight was manipulated in some studies. Directions for future research are identified.
Research indicates that overweight job applicants and employees are stereo-typically viewed as being less conscientiousness, less agreeable, less emotionally stable, and less extraverted than their ...“normal-weight” counterparts. Together, the two reported studies investigate the validity of those stereotypes by examining the relationship between body weight and four relevant personality traits (conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, extraversion) using three measures of body weight (body mass index BMI based on self-reported height and weight, BMI based on clinically assessed height and weight, percentage body fat assessed by bio-impedance technology) in a diverse group of 3,496 adults from the United States. There is substantial convergence between the two studies, with findings tending to refute commonly held stereotypes about the personality traits of overweight employees.
This article focuses attention on research examining workplace discrimination against employees from marginalized groups. We particularly consider the experiences of seven different groups of ...marginalized individuals, some of which have legal protection and some of which do not but all of whom we feel have been overlooked by the field of industrial–organizational (I–O) psychology. We briefly describe the importance of studying each group and then delineate the brief amount of research that has been conducted. Finally, we make recommendations for I–O psychologists in terms of research and advocacy. Overall, we argue that I–O psychologists are missing an opportunity to be at the forefront of understanding and instigating changes that would result in maximizing the fairness and optimization of these often forgotten employees and their experiences in the workplace.
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