Kaveh, Mohammad Hossein and Akbari, Maryam and Cousins, Rosanna and Ghahremani, Leila and Nazari, Mahin and Karimi, Masoud (2023) Understanding Iranian women’s response to sexual harassment by customers: A directed content analysis based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Sexuality Research and Social Policy. ISSN 1868-9884
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Abstract
Introduction: Protecting the female workforce from sexual harassment is a legal duty for employees in most countries, nevertheless it is a common phenomenon. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate how and why Iranian women working in retail sales responded when confronted by sexual harassment by customers.
Methods: The setting for this qualitative study was Shiraz, Iran, in 2020. Purposeful and snowball sampling was used to recruit 16 women with at least 12 months experience in clothing sales and experience of customer-based sexual harassment. The Theory of Planned Behavior was used as a conceptual theoretical framework for the semi-structured in-depth interview guide and directed content analysis of the data.
Results: All participants generally stayed silent, did not retaliate and did not report events of sexual harassment. Motivations to comply with employer expectations, threats of getting fired, negative judgments from important others, a lack of social support, and a fear of retaliation from the harasser were negative personal consequences which decreased their perceived power to respond.
Conclusion and policy implications: The Theory of Planned Behavior provided a good framework to explain saleswomen’s responses to sexual harassment from customers. Silence and inaction were the norm because of perceived potentials for further personal harm, in common with other studies. Our findings indicate a need for educational interventions that can develop assertiveness skills to empower female employees to eliminate acceptance of customer-based sexual harassment as part of the job, as well as call upon the protection they should have from labor laws.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information and Comments: | This is the author accepted manuscript version of an article that was accepted for publication in Sexuality Research and Social Policy. The final, published version is available from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-023-00907-y |
| Keywords: | Qualitative research, Sexual harassment, Theory of Planned Behavior, Women’s health, Workplace |
| Faculty / Department: | Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences > School of Psychology |
| Depositing User: | Rosanna Cousins |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Jan 2024 10:19 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Nov 2024 01:15 |
| URI: | https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4126 |
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