Supervisory support, social exchange relationships, and sexual harassment consequences - A test of competing models

This article examines the role that the immediate supervisor has in mitigat ing the negative consequences of sexual harassment experiences when he or s he is not the perpetrator of the harassment. We examined a competing mediat ing/moderating effects model of perceived supervisory support and social ex change relationships on the consequences of perceived sexual harassment exp eriences. Using survey data gathered from military personnel, we found supp ort for direct effects of both perceived sexual harassment and leadership o n individual outcomes but failed to confirm our initial hypothesis of perce ived leadership as a moderator. However, we found significant support for a moderating effect when the sample was subgrouped by gender of the leader. We also found partial support for leadership as a mediator of the relations hips between sexual harassment and individual outcomes. (C) 2001 Elsevier S cience Inc. All rights reserved.