Research on Sexual Harassment and Leadership: Links, Parallels, and Consequences for Theory and Practice

• In Event: Leadership Scholarship: Gender Matters

Short Description

Sexual harassment is a persistent and pervasive problem in contemporary workplaces. Many different sources and scholars have framed sexual harassment as a leadership problem. For some, this means sexual harassment results from poor leadership, while for others it means that leadership is solution to the problem. Despite the gulf between these two conclusions, there exists no systematic analyses of this research, of the methodological and theoretical models it deploys, or of the broader consequences for leadership practice. We therefore perform a systematic review of 101 articles across journals and disciplines to explore how researchers have analyzed and understood the relationship between sexual harassment and leadership. Results suggest that researchers have focused on not only on causes and solutions, but also on the consequences of sexual harassment for the dynamics of leadership in organizations. However, further analysis also suggests that research on sexual harassment and leadership has adopted a primarily leader-centric focus on individual leader behaviors rather than a broader systemic focus on leadership dynamics. In this context, our review contributes a better picture of how these two complex social phenomena interact, while also providing new insights into the gendered, systemic, and relational dynamics of leadership itself.

Key Takeaway 1: A basic understanding of how the field of leadership studies has researched and discussed the relationship between leadership and sexual harassment.

Key Takeaway 2: A shift toward reconceiving of sexual harassment not simply as an organizational shortcoming or leadership failure, but rather a characteristic feature of working life and as an underexplored context for organizing and leadership activity.

Key Takeaway 3: Insight into how future research and practitioners can address not only the topic of leadership, but complex, gendered issues, like sexual harassment in more critical and equitable ways going forward.

Streams and Specialties: Leadership Scholarship - Qualitative Articles

Participants

• Nicole Capriel Ferry, Copenhagen Business School Management, Society and Communication Assistant Professor
  Presenter

• Eric R. Guthey, Copenhagen Business School Management, Society, and Communication Associate Professor
  Co-Author