Away From the Nightmare: Sexual Harassment, Leave Intention, and Job Search Behavior

Abstract

Drawing on social identity theory, we investigated the mechanism underlying the effect of sexual harassment on hospitality employees’ leave intention and job search behavior. The results of a time-lagged survey conducted in six hotels in China revealed that sexual harassment positively undermined hospitality employees’ organizational identification, which further induced their intention to leave the organization and job search behavior. In addition, perceived organizational support moderated the direct link between sexual harassment and organizational identification as well as the indirect link from sexual harassment to leave intention and job search behavior via organizational identification. The theoretical and managerial implications of this study are discussed.