Networks of complicity: social networks and sex harassment
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
ISSN: 2040-7149
Article publication date: 16 December 2019
Issue publication date: 18 May 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the question of why sex harassment persists in organizations for prolonged periods – often as an open secret.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth interviews were conducted with 28 people in diverse organizations experiencing persistent sex harassment. Data were analyzed using standard qualitative methods.
Findings
The overarching finding was that perpetrators were embedded in networks of complicity that were central to explaining the persistence of sex harassment in organizations. By using power and manipulating information, perpetrators built networks that protected them from sanction and enabled their behavior to continue unchecked. Networks of complicity metastasized and caused lasting harm to victims, other employees and the organization as a whole.
Research limitations/implications
The authors used broad, open-ended questions and guided introspection to guard against the tendency to ask for information to confirm their assumptions, and the authors analyzed the data independently to mitigate subjectivity and establish reliability.
Practical implications
To stop persistent sex harassment, not only must perpetrators be removed, but formal and informal ties among network of complicity members must also be weakened or broken, and victims must be integrated into networks of support. Bystanders must be trained and activated to take positive action, and power must be diffused through egalitarian leadership.
Social implications
Understanding the power of networks in enabling perpetrators to persist in their destructive behavior is another step in countering sex harassment.
Originality/value
Social network theory has rarely been used to understand sex harassment or why it persists.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank their informants for sharing their stories with them, and they thank Paul Cunningham, H.W. Perry, Jr, Peggy Stockdale and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and constructive suggestions for improvement.
Citation
Cunningham, P., Drumwright, M.E. and Foster, K.W. (2021), "Networks of complicity: social networks and sex harassment", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 392-409. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-04-2019-0117
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited