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Analysis

Job performance insecurity may drive workplace sexual harassment

Sexual harassment is driven in part by harassers’ fears of being called out for ineffective leadership, and as such, they seek to maintain their positions by harassing subordinates.

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According to researchers, “fostering a work environment in which employees make it clear that they recognize one another’s areas of strength and competence may help to reduce fears of negative evaluation.” (Photo: Shutterstock)

The prevailing notion why some men in powerful positions sexually harass women subordinates is that they are narcissists and feel entitled to lord their power over others to get what they want.

But such men may actually perpetuate these acts because they worry that others think they are not up to their jobs, according to the report, “Feeling Powerful but Incompetent: Fear of Negative Evaluation Predicts Men’s Sexual Harassment of Subordinates,” authored by researchers at Ohio State University and published by Springer Link.

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Katie Kuehner-Hebert

Katie Kuehner-Hebert

Katie Kuehner-Hebert is a freelance writer based in Running Springs, Calif. She has more than three decades of journalism experience, with particular expertise in employee benefits and other human resource topics.

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