SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: MEDIATING EFFECT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL

Abstract

Diversity in the workforce has no longer been an option but an inevitable feature of today’s organization dealing with diverse customers and markets in the wave of globalization. Gender diverse workforce is increasingly considered a competitive advantage for an organization, however various issues have also been associated with this change including the issue of sexual harassment. This study has examined the phenomenon of sexual harassment among nurses of public sector hospitals in Pakistan and its effect on their performance by taking psychological capital as a mediator in the relationship between sexual harassment and employee performance. Sample included nurses working in four different hospitals of Lahore. Sample size consisted of 182 nurses serving as Staff and Charge Nurse. The study was quantitative in nature and entailed cross sectional method of research. For this purpose, self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. Findings of the study were found to be in favor of our proposed hypotheses. Results exhibited the negative effect of sexual harassment on employee performance and PsyCap was proved to mediate the relationship. Keeping in view the findings, recommendations have been also offered to combat sexual harassment and its consequences at workplaces.