2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

Subjective Appraisal
The subjective appraisal scale contains six items that ask respondents to rate the degree to
which a critical incident involving unprofessional, gender-related behavior was distressing (e.g.,
"offensive," "threatening," or "embarrassing"). Responses were provided on a 5-point Likert-type
scale, ranging from 0 (not at all) to 4 (extremely), with higher scores reflecting personal appraisals
of greater distress.
Organizational Climate
Climate was assessed by adapting the Organizational Tolerance of Sexual Harassment
Scale (OTSH; Hulin, Fitzgerald, & Drasgow, 1996) to a military context. Respondents were
presented with three hypothetical scenarios of different types of UGRB, and asked to indicate the
degree to which they agreed with statements about the climate for UGRB within workgroups or
broader organizational units. The climate scale assesses individual perceptions of organizational
tolerance for UGRB along scenarios about Crude and Offensive Behavior, Unwanted Sexual
Attention, and Sexual Coercion. Response options ask if a complaint was made by the respondent,
whether the respondent would incur risk, be taken seriously, or if corrective action would be taken.
Responses to these nine items were provided on a 5-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Higher scores reflected a work climate that is more
tolerant of UGRB.
Masculinized Work Context
A masculinized work context (i.e., the degree to which the gender of the workgroup and
the respondents' jobs are traditionally masculine) was assessed with four items. Included were the
gender of immediate supervisor (male or female), the gender ratio of coworkers (response scale
was recoded to range from 1 = all women to 7 = all men), and two dichotomously scored questions
asking whether their jobs were typically held by a person of their gender and whether members of
their gender were common in their work environment. These four items were standardized and
summed to create a single variable with high scores representing the degree to which the
respondent's work context was masculine.
Target's Organizational Power
Two items assessed the organizational power of the respondent. Respondents' pay grade
(i.e., military pay classifications recoded to range from 1 to 20) and the number of years of
completed active-duty service were standardized and summed to create a scale where higher scores
reflect holding a greater amount of organizational power.
Leadership efforts to stop sexual harassment
This 3-item scale assessed respondents' beliefs regarding whether senior leadership "made
honest and reasonable efforts to stop sexual harassment." Responses were provided on a 3-point
response scale and were recoded such that I = "no", 2 = "don't know", and 3 = "yes." A higher
score indicated a higher perception that senior leadership made "honest and reasonable efforts to
stop sexual harassment.
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45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003