A few years ago I wrote about some research showing that flirting can actually be quite useful in helping us to buffer stress. The study was conducted in the wake of a number of high profile organizations attempting to ban such behavior.
“Some flirting is happening, and it seems pretty benign,” the researchers explained. “Even when our study participants disliked the behavior, it still didn’t reach the threshold of sexual harassment. It didn’t produce higher levels of stress, so it is a very different conceptual space.”
Most likely to flirt
Research from the Haas School of Business explores who is most likely to flirt in order to get ahead, and while stereotypes might suggest it is younger women who do so, the research found that it’s actually more likely to be young men.
“Most of the literature in this field focuses on men in power. But through a number of studies, we’ve debunked the myth that social sexual behavior is something that only high-power men do—that somehow power is this aphoidesiac that makes people take advantage of others sexually,” the researchers explain. “In fact, we found that it’s more often men who are insecure about their role at work who use unwanted social sexual behavior to look more masculine and powerful, even when they know it’s offensive to women.”
The study found that a strong sexual identity was a reliable predictor of whether someone would flirt at work. It underpins how people tend to think of themselves, which in turn underlines how they might justify problematic behavior to themselves.
This is important, as they also found that men were far more likely to turn flirtatious behavior into harassment and abuse, especially when they believe they have little power and wish to portray a more powerful image.
Right and wrong
Suffice it to say, the researchers aren’t commenting on whether flirting is right or wrong, and they don’t doubt that people in positions of power don’t abuse that power in sexual ways.
“Harassment can come from all angles of the corporate hierarchy; however, our research finds that the only direction that exhibits a gender difference is among subordinates directing social sexual behavior towards bosses, where we see men engaging in this behavior more than women,” the authors explain.
They do, however, believe that their findings shed new light on how our perceptions of ourselves as a flirt are predictive of a wide range of behaviors, ranging from the benign to the dangerous. The researchers believe that their findings demonstrate the need for sexual harassment training to ask participants to reflect on behavior that might be passed off as teasing, as this could be an early sign of future behavior.
“People generally have positive associations with being a flirt or being charming or having sex appeal,” the authors conclude. “But when we take on that identity, it leads to certain behavioral patterns that reinforce the identity. And then, people use that identity as an excuse.”
