Reading the Room: How Workers Perceive Organizational Climate Toward Sexual Harassment

Abstract Research identifies an organization’s climate toward sexual harassment as the strongest predictor of sexual harassment prevalence. Yet how employees come to perceive their organization’s climate toward sexual harassment has not been explored. Drawing on data from 35 interviews with restaurant workers in Madison, Wisconsin, we show that workers overwhelmingly draw from their experiences and interactions in the workplace, rather than written organizational policies, to make sense of the organization’s climate toward sexual harassment. Workers who perceived their organization to be intolerant of unwanted sexual or sexist behavior described witnessing disrespectful or harassing behaviors being preempted, interrupted, or addressed. However, workers who did experience unwanted sexual or sexist behaviors rarely concluded that their organization was broadly tolerant of sexual harassment. Instead, they often drew boundaries, perceiving their organization as more tolerant of such behavior from high-status members of the organization than from others (particularly customers and Latino employees). This variation indicates that perceptions of organizational climate are not necessarily uniform. These findings suggest that organizations can meaningfully deter sexual harassment by fostering climates in which disrespectful behavior – of any kind, and from any source – is clearly and reliably addressed.