Uncovering sexual harassment issues in the workplace : a study on hotels in Egypt

Abstract EN

This study aims to uncover issues related to sexual harassment in the Egyptian hotels and investigate the managerial policies, practices, and procedures against it.

The study depended on two data collection methods (questionnaire and interview).

A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed to female students who confronted sexual harassment (SH) incidents during their summer training in hotels.

Of this, 120 were deemed fit for analysis.

SPSS was used to analyze the collected data and answer the research questions.

The study held interviews with human resource managers in hotels to understand the issue from a managerial perspective.

The qualitative data was analyzed based on a content analysis approach.

The findings show that the food and beverage department is the most commonplace in the hotel where the victim is sexually harassed.

Verbal harassment is the most type of SH that occurs in hotels.

The cause of SH is men's power over the victim.

Only 20% of victims reported the incident, and approximately half of them were physically harassed.

The most frequent effects of SH on victims are low confidence, loss of desire to work, and low job performance.

The analysis of the interviews declared that hotels perform some practices against SH.

They organize training programs to educate employees about SH issues, and facilitate reporting incidents.

However, they have some shortages in their practicies and procedures.

The study highlights several implications for the hotels' management in Egypt, enriches knowledge, and fills a gap in previous research studies by investigating SH in the Egyptian hospitality setting.