The Effect of Gender, Victim Job Performance, and Victim Employment Status on Individual and Jury Perceptions of Sexual Harassment

• Main Author: Krastman, Marcie
• Format: Others
• Published: TopSCHOLAR® 2005
• Subjects: Gender and Sexuality; Psychology
• Online Access: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/506; http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1509&context=theses

The current study investigated the impact of gender, victim job performance, and victim employment status on individual juror and jury perceptions of sexual harassment. Gender, victim job performance, and victim employment are all extralegal factors that were found to influence individual jurors' perceptions of sexual harassment. The present study revealed individual female jurors were more likely than male jurors to find sexual harassment. Although gender did not have a significant effect in jury perceptions of sexual harassment, further analysis revealed females were more likely than males to change their decision on sexual harassment in a jury. Victim job performance and employment status were both found to influence jury perceptions of sexual harassment. When the victim was a good, average performer, or no information was provided on victim job performance, the individual jurors were more likely to find sexual harassment than cases where the victim was a poor performer. When the victim was a good or poor performer or no information was provided for victim job performance, the jury was more likely to find sexual harassment than cases where the victim was an average performer. Individual jurors were more likely to find sexual harassment when the victim was currently employed or no information was provided than when the victim was fired from the organization. Juries were more likely to perceive sexual harassment when no employment information was provided than when the victim was currently employed fired. These results have implications for the legal system.