Development of the Observer Intervention in Sexual Harassment at Work (OISH) Measure, Using a Situational Judgment Approach for Assessment

Abstract

Despite the anti-sexual harassment law passed as recently as 2013, and growing social awareness in India (for instance, through the #MeToo movement since 2018), the problem of sexual harassment (SH) at work persists. Some research suggests that training coworkers to stand up for their harassed colleagues when they witness incidents may help prevent SH, similar to encouraging bystander intervention in instances of gender-based violence. However, observer intervention has received insufficient attention in Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) efforts in India. We developed the Observer Intervention in Sexual Harassment (OISH) measure/tool1 to aid the POSH efforts in organizations by (1) enhancing observers’ awareness of their position on the spectrum of possible and appropriate responses, as well as (2) providing observers with a repertoire of appropriate/effective behaviors to use in future SH incidents. The OISH tool uses the single-response situational judgement test item format (Motowidlo, Crook, Krell, & Naemi, 2009). It comprises 28 descriptions of SH at work, with each scenario having a target, a harasser, and an observer. It is designed to enhance realism for the respondents/potential future observers. The tool provides a profile of likely behaviors for each potential observer, across four key strategies they can use to tackle sexual harassment at work. These approaches, which we term the ABCDs of observer intervention in sexual harassment, are: A—Appeal to Authority, B—Buffer/Break, C—Call Out/Confront, and D—Defuse. Initial validation evidence shows promising relationships to key constructs such as empathy and third-party reactions to injustice at work, and also shows interesting relationships based on previous experience of respondents as targets or observers of SH.

Keywords: Sexual harassment, gender-based violence, observer intervention, bystander intervention, workplace harassment