Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace: A perspective from Health Care Sector of Pakistan

Abstract

Sexual harassment has been identified as one of the main hurdles faced by women at workplace. Awareness of sexual harassment has increased as today we understand that it is a persistent and increasing problem all over the world. Due to the increasing awareness of sexual harassment in organizations, due to the serious consequences it entails, especially for women, and due to its refusal to go away as an organizational phenomenon, sexual harassment has remained a topic of interest for organizational researchers. The present study explores “the antecedents and consequences of sexual harassment” faced by nursing staff in health care sector of Pakistan. The study examines the impact of the two main types of antecedents “organizational climate context and job gender context” on sexual harassment and in turn, the impact of sexual harassment on job related consequences “job satisfaction, organizational commitment, presenteeism, job withdrawal and work withdrawal.” Additionally, the moderating effect of marital status is evaluated to examine and measure if marital status moderates the relationship between sexual harassment and its consequences namely job satisfaction, organizational commitment and presenteeism. The findings of the study suggest that regardless of the ample work contribution of nurses in the health care sector, they do face sexual harassment and that sexual harassment negatively impacts their performance at work. Organizational climate context has a positive significant relationship with sexual harassment, which, in turn, has an adverse effect on the job related consequences.