Observers’ gender and behavioral responses to workplace sexual harassment via empathy: The moderating role of organizational intolerance.

Despite the well-established gendered nature of sexual harassment, with women predominantly targeted, it remains unclear whether men and women observers exhibit different behavioral responses to workplace sexual harassment, and if so, why. Given the significant role of observers' actions, understanding how and under which conditions gender influences their positive and negative behaviors has theoretical and practical importance. Drawing on the social role theory of gender, this research examines the relationships between observers' gender and their behavioral responses-intervention, not hearing, and silencing the target-through empathy toward targets. In addition, it examines whether organizational intolerance of sexual harassment moderates the effect of observer gender on empathy. Across two online vignette studies (N₁ = 248, N₃ = 151) and a field survey study (N₂ = 341), women consistently exhibited higher empathy toward targets than men, which in turn predicted greater intervention intentions and behaviors. Women also engaged less in "not hearing" (Study 2) and reported lower intentions to "not hear" and "silence targets" (Study 3). However, this gendered pattern emerged only in organizations tolerant of sexual harassment. In highly intolerant organizations, both men and women reported greater empathy, intervened more, and exhibited less silence, eliminating the gender gap. Study 3 further strengthens our conclusion by showing that empathy explained gender differences in behavioral responses, regardless of observers' prior experiences as a target, gender similarity to the target or harasser, and beyond the influence of other emotional responses (i.e., anger, fear). Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).