Award Date

August 2023

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

William F. Harrah College of Hospitality

First Committee Member

Cass Shum

Second Committee Member

Renata Fernandes Guzzo

Third Committee Member

Billy Bai

Fourth Committee Member

Margaret Alexis Kennedy

Number of Pages

298

Abstract

The #MeToo movement motivates hospitality businesses and researchers to pay attention to reducing workplace sexual harassment by increasing bystander interventions. About 70% of flight attendants have experienced workplace sexual harassment, and passenger interventions are essential to help reduce in-flight sexual harassment. However, scant literature explored the effects of in-flight workplace sexual harassment awareness campaigns. Drawing on prospect theory, this dissertation aims to understand passengers’ attitudes and their reporting intentions after reading in-flight workplace sexual harassment awareness campaigns with gain-framing (vs. loss-framing) and narrative (vs. descriptive) message type. This dissertation undertook a three-part study to understand the passengers’ attitudes and reporting intentions. First, sentiment analysis of text mining from Twitter sexual harassment awareness original tweet showed that loss-framing, narrative messages, and descriptive messages were popular for sexual harassment awareness material. Based on the results of the text mining, this dissertation used four between-subject experiments to answer research questions. In two of the experiments, message framing and message type were manipulated, and passengers’ perceived organizational support for flight attendants, passengers’ perceived personal safety, and passengers’ satisfaction were measured. The results showed that a narrative gain-framing message could increase passengers’ perceived personal safety and satisfaction with airline companies. In the other two experiments, message framing, message type, and sexual harassment severity were manipulated, and passengers’ anticipated guilt and reporting intentions were measured. Although no direct evidence supported the impacts of framing and message type on passengers’ anticipated guilt, the results revealed that gain-framing could increase passengers’ reporting intentions. This dissertation expanded the literature related to the joint impacts of framing and message types, in-flight sexual harassment, and bystanders’ intervention in workplace sexual harassment. Practically, this dissertation suggested airline companies design in-flight workplace sexual harassment awareness campaigns in a narrative gain-framing approach.

Keywords

framing; in-flight workplace sexual harassment awareness campaigns; perceived safety; prospect theory; reporting intentions

Disciplines

Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Gender and Sexuality | Work, Economy and Organizations

File Format

pdf

File Size

4710 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Available for download on Thursday, August 15, 2030


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