Institutional courage buffers against sexual harassment and betrayal in workplace, landmark study finds
A groundbreaking study that is the first to measure the impact of institutional courage and its role in buffering the harm of institutional betrayal has been published in the open access journal PLOS ONE. Read the study here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0278830
A team of researchers from the Center for Institutional Courage and the University of Oregon, led by Dr. Alec Smidt, conducted an extensive online survey of 805 working adults. It showed that institutional courage is an effective buffer to betrayal in the workplace, especially in cases of sexual harassment.
“Our study clearly shows that institutional courage is beneficial to organizations and their employees: it’s associated with higher job satisfaction and organizational commitment, as well as lower perceived organizational gender bias and intentions to leave one’s job."
The researchers also found that institutional betrayal by itself following workplace sexual harassment is associated with lower job satisfaction, higher intentions to leave one’s job, and negative physical health symptoms. Dr. Smidt explained that institutional courage buffers against this negative effect of institutional betrayal: "Institutional courage is especially impactful after institutional betrayal, where it reduces some of the negative impact of that harm."
The study also examined how employers demonstrate institutional courage through operational transparency and proactive support of employees, as well as through supporting whistleblowers who have been sexually harassed and retaliated against when reporting the harassment.
Research team members included Dr. Alec Smidt, Senior Advisor at the Center for Institutional Courage, Dr. Jennifer Freyd, Founder and President of the Center for Institutional Courage, and Alexis A. Adams-Clark, a Ph.D. candidate in Psychology at the University of Oregon and a Research Associate at the Center for Institutional Courage.
_____________________________
About the Center for Institutional Courage
The Center for Institutional Courage is a 501 501©(3) non-profit whose mission is to conduct transformative research and education about institutional betrayal and how to counter it through institutional courage.
Information on the work of the Center for Institutional Courage can be found at https://www.institutionalcourage.org,
including our “Resources for Changemakers” with list of 11 steps that organizations can take to promote institutional courage.