The Impact of Sexual Harassment Policy in the Dutch Police Force

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the outcome of sexual harassment policy in the Dutch Police Force. Using a survey, sexual harassment was measured in 2000 and again in 2006 and we tested whether sexual harassment is associated with the comprehensiveness of policies. To be able to identify divisions with comprehensive policies, we interviewed 29 key persons in semi-structured interviews. It appeared that between 2000 and 2006 sexual harassment did not decrease: neither for women nor for men. Furthermore, the risk of sexual harassment was not lower in divisions that implemented comprehensive policies than in divisions with less comprehensive policies. The results suggest that sexual harassment is a workplace hazard that is very difficult to prevent in male dominated workplaces and implementing a comprehensive policy is not sufficient to prevent this workplace hazard.

Sexual harassment training effectiveness: An interdisciplinary review and call for research

“…With six exceptions, the studies were conducted using U.S. samples. The exceptions include the following: de Haas, Timmerman, Höing, Zaagsma, and Vanwesenbeeck (), Netherlands; Diehl, Glaser, and Bohner (), Germany; Gruber and Smith () and Gruber (), Canada; Meloni and Austin (), Australia; and Sabitha (), Malaysia. Twenty‐eight percent of all studies, and 53% of the experimental or quasi‐experimental studies, employ undergraduate student samples.…”

“…Of 14 identified studies investigating the relationship between SH training and perceived incidence of SH, eight report that at least some types of SH training are associated with lower levels of SH (Antecol & Cobb‐Clark, ; Barak, ; Coker et al, ; Gruber, ; Jacobs et al, ; Meloni & Austin, ; Reese & Lindenberg, ; Williams, Lam, & Shively, ), and six studies did not find a relationship between SH training and the incidence of SH (de Haas et al, ; Estrada & Laurence, ; Fried et al, ; Magley et al, , Studies 1 and 2; Williams et al, ). The following observations are based on a review and comparison of the studies in those two groups.…”

“…Given that research has shown POTSH to be a consistent driver of SH in organizations (Fitzgerald, Drasgow, et al, 1997;Willness, Steel, & Lee, 2007), the lack of research investigating how SH training might significantly impact POTSH represents a surprising and important gap in the literature. Of 14 identified studies investigating the relationship between SH training and perceived incidence of SH, eight report that at least some types of SH training are associated with lower levels of SH (Antecol & Cobb-Clark, 2003;Barak, 1994;Coker et al, 2016;Gruber, 1998;Jacobs et al, 2000;Meloni & Austin, 2011;Reese & Lindenberg, 2003;Williams, Lam, & Shively, 1992), and six studies did not find a relationship between SH training and the incidence of SH (de Haas et al, 2010;Estrada & Laurence, 2009;Fried et al, 2012;Magley et al, 2013, Studies 1 and 2; Williams et al, 1999). The following observations are based on a review and comparison of the studies in those two groups.…”

Organizational failure to ethically manage sexual harassment: Limits to #metoo

“…The impotence of anti‐harassment policies is further evidenced by a longitudinal study of the Dutch police force that measured sexual harassment frequency both before and after the adoption of sexual harassment policies (de Haas, Timmerman, Höing, Zaagsma, & Vanwesenbeeck, 2010). The results indicated that there was no decrease in the prevalence of sexual harassment after the adoption of the policies.…”

Managing workforce diversity from the perspective of two higher education institutions

“…In most workplaces, cultural diversity is promoted through the development of policies that will support tolerance and reduce cultural discrimination (Herdman and McMillan-Capehart, 2010). For example, in Northern Ireland most workplaces promote cultural diversity through the development of team groups comprising people of different cultures and racial groups (De Haas et al, 2010).…”