Cathy L. Z. Dubois

ESTIMATING THE ORGANIZATIONAL COSTS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT: THE CASE OF THE U.S. ARMY

A general model for estimating the organizational costs of sexual harassment in the workplace is proposed along with model-specific costing formulas. A partial implementation of the model is applied to sexual harassment incidence data for the Army gathered as part of a large-scale survey of the U.S. military services. Results indicate that the total annual cost of sexual harassment in the U.S. Army in 1988 was over

An Empirical Examination of Same- and Other-Gender Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

250,000,000. Organizational implications are discussed.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PAY EXPECTATIONS: THE ROLES OF JOB INTENTION AND SELF‐VIEW

This study examines sexual harassment (SH) whichinvolves members of the same gender, either male orfemale. Data are taken from the 1988 Department ofDefense Survey of Sex Roles in the Active Duty Military. Separate comparisons for male (38% White, 31%Black, and 31% ‘other’) and female (48%White, 27% Black, and 25% ‘other’) targetsare made between sameand other-gender SH related to fourmajor components of a conceptual model proposed by Fitzgerald,Drasgow, Hulin, Gelfand, & Magley (1997). Thesecomponents include sexual harassment behaviors, personalvulnerability, target response styles, and consequences of the SH for the target. The sexualorientation of targets and perpetrators is notconsidered because data were unavailable. Results reveala number of meaningful differences between sameandother-gender SH. The most striking result is that maletargets of same-gender SH experience consequences thatare significantly more pervasive and severe than thoseexperienced by male targets of other-gender SH.Organizational implications are discussed.

The Effects of Organizational Context on Occupational Gender-Stereotyping

Because pay expectations play a role in the persistent gender pay gap, we surveyed 435 undergraduate students to examine the impacts of gender, job intentions, and self-views on the pay expectations of pre-career women and men. Our findings showed a gender gap in which women expected to be paid less than men expected to be paid at the beginning and at the peak of their careers. Findings also showed a gap in job intentions such that women and men who intended to hold female-dominated jobs expected to be paid less than those pursuing male-dominated jobs at both time periods. Further exploration showed that job intentions fully mediated the link between gender and entry-level pay expectations but did not mediate the link between gender and peak-career pay expectancies. After controlling for the gender type of the intended job, self-esteem did not moderate the relationship between gender and pay expectations at either career point, but self-efficacy did at both points. Increased self-efficacy raised the entry-level pay expectations of women and reduced the peak-career pay expectations of men. Our results highlight the importance of encouraging cross-stereotypic job pursuits for both women and men and indicate the importance of self-efficacy in curbing the gap in pay expectations.

Workplace Hand Hygiene and Wellness A Survey of Knowledge, Beliefs, and Practices

This study examined the effects oforganizational context and subject gender onoccupational gender-stereotyping. Subjects (153Caucasians, 10 African Americans, 3 Asians, 3 Latinos,2 Native Americans, and 11 unidentified) rated 8 gender-neutraloccupations on a 7-point bi-polar scale representing thedegree to which they felt the occupations were“masculine,” “feminine,” or“neither masculine nor feminine.” One experimentalgroup read a masculine-typed organizational descriptionprior to rating the occupations and the secondexperimental group read a feminine-typed organizational description. The control group read noorganizational description. A two-way ANCOVA (2 genders× 3 organizational contexts) was used to test thehypotheses. A significant main effect for organizationalcontext was found, but the interaction effect was notsignificant.

Outcomes of a Pilot Hand Hygiene Randomized Cluster Trial to Reduce Communicable Infections Among US Office-Based Employees

Community hand hygiene interventions have reduced the spread of infectious disease in elementary schools, daycare centers, and private homes. Despite this success, and the potential for reducing workplace absenteeism and presenteeism, few peer-reviewed hand hygiene intervention studies among workers have been published. This research used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to guide the development of a model to understand and predict motivations for performing hand hygiene, and to examine related illness, absenteeism, and presenteeism among employees from 39 bank branches in Ohio. Although the TPB has been used extensively to elucidate hand hygiene practices among employees in the health care and food industries, little is known about the ability of the TPB to predict hand hygiene practices among workers in public settings. These survey findings indicate a need for hand hygiene improvement, and support the use of attitudinal beliefs and social norms to guide multimodal approaches for workplace hand hygiene interventions.

An Alternate Method for Content-Oriented Test Construction: An Empirical Evaluation

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of an office-based multimodal hand hygiene improvement intervention in reducing self-reported communicable infections and work-related absence. Methods: A randomized cluster trial including an electronic training video, hand sanitizer, and educational posters (n = 131, intervention; n = 193, control). Primary outcomes include (1) self-reported acute respiratory infections (ARIs)/influenza-like illness (ILI) and/or gastrointestinal (GI) infections during the prior 30 days; and (2) related lost work days. Incidence rate ratios calculated using generalized linear mixed models with a Poisson distribution, adjusted for confounders and random cluster effects. Results: A 31% relative reduction in self-reported combined ARI-ILI/GI infections (incidence rate ratio: 0.69; 95% confidence interval, 0.49 to 0.98). A 21% nonsignificant relative reduction in lost work days. Conclusions: An office-based multimodal hand hygiene improvement intervention demonstrated a substantive reduction in self-reported combined ARI-ILI/GI infections.

Hand hygiene performance and beliefs among public university employees

This study empirically evaluates the relationships between rationally and empirically estimated item indices used in the development of a test of land navigation knowledge for the US Marine Corps. Three land navigation instructors provided ratings on three item indices (item content validity ratios [CVRs], difficulty, and discrimination). These ratings were correlated with empirically derived item indices (difficulty, discrimination, and item-criterion correlations) obtained from the scores of 359 Marines on measures of land navigation knowledge, skill, and performance. Contrary to previous research, item CVRs were significantly correlated with all three empirically determined item indices. The increased effectiveness of rational item indices obtained in the present study over those from previous research appears to be related to the following areas: qualifications of expert raters, match of raters to the rating task, and the nature of the rating task. The implications for content-oriented test design and for judgmental test validation strategies are discussed.

Influenza Vaccine Uptake, Hand Hygiene Practices, and Perceived Barriers in Decision Making: A Mixed Methods Approach

The workplace is an important location to access community members, and employers have a direct interest in employee well-being. A survey administered to a random sample of employees at a Midwestern US university tested the ability of a model informed by the theory of planned behavior to predict hand hygiene practices and beliefs using structural equation modeling. Questions demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability. Constructs predicted self-reported hand hygiene behaviors, and hand hygiene behaviors reduced the odds of reporting sickness from respiratory tract and gastrointestinal infections. The findings support multi-modal hand hygiene improvement interventions.

Sexual Harassment: A Complex Adaptive System Viewpoint

The annual costs of influenza are in the billions of dollars, with employers bearing substantial burdens. Yet, influenza vaccine uptake is sub-optimal. A random survey was administered to employees at a Midwestern public university using mixed quantitative and qualitative methods to identify the rate, characteristics, and barriers of self-reported flu vaccine uptake during March-April of 2012. The lowest uptake was among adults, ages 18 to 49 (29.8%), even though they are included in universal recommendations. Multiple regression analysis adjusted for demographic confounders showed an increase in self-identified protective hand hygiene behavior among those who reported influenza vaccine uptake compared with those who did not. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed contextual accounts of why vaccine uptake was declined including structural, perceptual, and knowledge barriers. Implementation and evaluation of novel multicomponent worksite vaccine interventions tailored to reach young and middle-aged employees including utilization of risk communication is needed to facilitate increased uptake.