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Research Article

A Study on Working Women's Attitudes toward Sexual Harassment

Lim, Changhui · Hong, Yonggi

Published: January 1996 · Vol. 25, No. 3 · pp. 145-169
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Abstract

In our society, which has entered the early stages of the post-industrial era, the female workforce in the workplace has been steadily increasing due to office automation, higher educational attainment, expansion of the service industry, growing egalitarian consciousness, and expanded employment opportunities. Consequently, issues of sexual annoyance and sexual harassment between men and women in the workplace have expanded beyond management concerns to become social problems. However, in Korea, research related to gender issues in the workplace has primarily focused on sex discrimination in employment, wages, and promotion, and there has been virtually no research addressing sexual harassment from an organizational behavior or managerial perspective. This study went beyond merely documenting the prevalence of sexual harassment experienced by working women in Korea to conduct an in-depth examination of their perceptual attitudes toward sexual harassment, discovering that the degree of sexual harassment recognition varies according to sexual openness orientation, sexual harassment experience, the status of the harasser, and the climate of sexual permissiveness in the workplace. These empirical findings will not only serve as useful foundational data for future research on this topic but will also help corporate managers and the parties involved reduce misunderstandings about sexual harassment and adjust their offensive and reactive behaviors, thereby fostering an organizational atmosphere in which romantic relationships between men and women can develop naturally.