The Effects of Sexual Harassment in Workplace: Experience of Employees in Hospitality Industry in Terengganu, Malaysia

Abstract

The issue of sexual harassment has certainly become more prominent in the last decade. As the increasing number of cases reported, many countries have taken statutory action to recognize it as an insultive conduct and at the same time to punish and prevent it. In the hotel industry particularly, sexual harassment has frequently reported as a key problem. Working in the hospitality industry often involves an employee with a number of different people in the course of delivering service. Thus, this study aims to investigate the relationship between aweraness of sexual harrasment in relation to the employment in hospitality industry in Terengganu. A total of 260 respondents were selected from the employees in various hotels and resorts in Terengganu. Three predictors, offensive behavior, sexual coercion, risk on human factor, were found to have medium to strong correlation with the dependent variables namely employment. The regression analysis also shows that offensive behavior, sexual coercion, risks on human factor are positively and significantly related to employment. The researcher suggests that human resource managers in the hotels and resorts should formulate, in consultation with Malaysian law and labour relations experts, in order to improve sexual harassment policies.

Revisiting the Women Workplace Culture Scale: Validation and Psychometric Properties of a Three-Factor Structure in an Iranian Study Sample

“…Interestingly, the three conceptualized dimensions, namely (I) perceived societal barriers for career development, (II) perceived organizational barriers, and (III) sexual harassment, are conceivable as examples of the job demands concepts encompassed by the widely accredited theoretical models from the field of occupational health psychology [21] which have been previously referred to in the introductory paragraph of the current paper. Furthermore, the three dimensions highlight the challenges that working women in Iran have to face, which are consistent with those reported in the available literature [8][9][10][11][12][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…Concerning your own parents and siblings please rate the importance they have had for you") also requires answers on a 4-point scale, but the latter entails categorical answers, such as 1 = "all members (father, mother, siblings)", 2 = "only my mother", 3 = "only my father" and 4 = "only my siblings". Twelve items (6,7,8,10,12,13,19,20,21,22,26,28) require answers on a 3-point scale ranging from 1 = "definitely" to 3 = "not at all". Two items (2,9) require answers on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 = "fewer than I would wish" to 5 = "much more frequent".…”

“…Due probably to the culturally determined reluctance to disclose information about the occurrence of sexual harassment among Asian cultures [ 17 ], no accurate statistics regarding this phenomenon among working women in Iran are available. Nevertheless, studies involving hospital medical staff and hotel personnel from other Islamic-Arabic countries indicate high levels of sexual harassment episodes [ 18 , 19 , 20 ] and, therefore, also suggest that this aspect should be considered while investigating the condition of women at work in Middle Eastern contexts.…”

The Effects of Workplace Harassment on Co-Worker Relationship and Work Engagement: A Developing Country Perspective.

“…al., 2016). It also leads to a low-quality work environment (Einarsen et at., 2008) and exposes the employees towards offensive behavior and sexual coercion (Ali et al, 2015). The findings of this research also concur Thirlwall and colleagues' finding that, harassed employees produce lower job performance (Thirlwall et al, 2009).…”

Understanding workplace bullying

“…Alexander et al (2012) noted that bullying in hotel kitchens was a part of the culture there and that bullying had a significant negative influence on employee satisfaction and commitment. Ali et al (2015) claimed that employees in the hospitality industry who worked providing services for a variety of customers were exposed to various types of harassment. Furthermore, Yap and Ineson (2015) conducted a survey with interns and reported that the interns faced various types of workplace bullying resulting in negative feelings and deleterious influences on their physical health.…”