Empowering Chinese College Students to Prevent Sexual Assault in Post-MeToo Era: An Empirical Study of the Bystander Intervention Approach

MeToo movement unveiled the high prevalence of sexual assault in Chinese colleges. To create a safer environment, many Chinese universities require students to engage in bystander intervention sessions, which encourages students to assess, identify, and interrupt the harmful situation. Drawing upon health belief model and theory of planned behavior, this study tests the effects of bystander intervention programs, exposure to news reports on MeToo movement, and institutional responses to sexual violence events on bystander intervention intention and behaviors. The results of an online survey (N = 814) indicated that bystander intervention programs were effective in changing attendees' perceived benefits, subjective norms, and bystander self-efficacy, which, in turn, led to increased bystander intervention intention and actual behaviors. Moreover, exposure to MeToo movement reports and institutional responses to sexual assault events were significant predictors of bystander intervention intention and behaviors via the mediation of perceived benefits, perceived costs, and subjective norms. The results provide valuable implications for developing effective bystander intervention programs in Chinese college communities.

The lacuna model: A new approach to cross-cultural management research

This paper presents the lacuna model—an innovative investigational tool for the study of cross-cultural differences in a broader context. Originally developed and still widely used as a linguistic instrument, the lacuna theory also applies to empirical investigations in the field of cross-cultural management. Using several examples from the business world to illustrate the taxonomy, the authors demonstrate how lacuna analysis can be carried out. By comparing the lacuna model with Hofstede’s framework, the paper presents the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and concludes with a discussion of the potential offered by the lacuna model for cross-cultural management research and suggestions for its further development.

"It was only harmless banter!" The development and preliminary validation of the moral disengagement in sexual harassment scale

Sexual harassment represents aggressive behavior that is often enacted instrumentally, in response to a threatened sense of masculinity and male identity. To date, however, theoretical attention to the social cognitive processes that regulate workplace harassment is scant. This article presents the development and preliminary validation of the Moral Disengagement in Sexual Harassment Scale (MDiSH); a self-report measure of moral disengagement in the context of hostile work environment harassment. Three studies (total n = 797) document the excellent psychometric properties of this new scale. Male U.K. university students (Study 1: n = 322) and U.S. working males (Studies 2 and 3: n = 475) completed the MDiSH and an array of measures for construct validation. The MDiSH exhibited positive correlations with sexual harassment myth acceptance, male gender identification, and hostile sexism. In Study 3, participants were exposed to a fictitious case of hostile work environment harassment. The MDiSH attenuated moral judgment, negative emotions (guilt, shame, and anger), sympathy, and endorsement of prosocial behavioral intentions (support for restitution) associated with the harassment case. Conversely, the MDiSH increased positive affect (happiness) about the harassment and attribution of blame to the female complainant. Implications for practice and future research avenues are discussed.