Research Summaries

Back Identifying Active Duty Middle Managers’ Challenges and Remedies for Addressing Gray Zone Sexual Harassment Behaviors

Fiscal Year 2018
Division Graduate School of Business & Public Policy
Department Graduate School of Business & Public Policy
Investigator(s) Thomas, Gail F.
Sponsor Department of the Navy Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (Navy)
Summary Sexual Harassment (SH) and Sexual Assault (SA) continue to be persistent problems for the Department of Defense, particularly for the US Navy and Marine Corps. While numerous studies have addressed sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military, fewer studies have addressed related behaviors such as sexist behavior and crude/offensive behavior that are more ambiguous and may not clearly fit within the categories of sexual harassment or sexual assault. These more ambiguous behaviors are sometimes called the “gray zones or gray areas” of sexual harassment, and they, too, can affect command climate in an adverse manner. The research is clear that both middle and senior leader response to these behaviors can contribute to or detract from a healthy workplace.
This study seeks to identify these gray zone behaviors, determine effective leader responses to these behaviors with the goal of mitigating sexual harassment and sexual assault and supporting healthy personal relationships and command climate.
Keywords Sexual Assault middle managers sexual harassment situational judgment tests
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal