Digital and cyber sexual harassment: An emerging form of workplace harassment

By Rejoice Esi Asante (PhD) ([email protected])

If someone is persistently sending you unsolicited and threatening emails or encouraging others to do same to you, or you are being sabotaged electronically following virus emails consistently sent to you, if defamatory comments are being made about you online, with negative messages directed at you, impersonating you online with inflammatory, controversial or enticing messages that cause others to respond to you negatively, if someone keeps sending you pornographic and other graphical material that is knowingly offensive or sharing with you online content that depicts you in a negative way, then you are probable facing digital and cyber harassment.

Transformation in work environments, intensified by digital and online representation and requirements has emerged as a significant threat to employee well-being and mental health affecting productivity in many subtle ways.

Despite the benefits associated with of technology adoption, digital harassment and cyber bullying have emerged as forms of harassment in the workplace. This article creates awareness of this emerging  issue focussing on  digital and cyber sexual harassment and the responsibilities by individuals and organisations to curtail it.

Digital and Cyber Harassment:

It involves the use of digital devices and the internet to threaten, stalk, embarrass or psychologically harm individuals (stopbullying.gov).  The harassment consists of malicious behaviours like cyberbullying (monitoring, tracking or digitally harassing someone, causing fear and emotional distress), doxing (sharing private information like home addresses or workplace information without consent), trolling (deliberately posting inflammatory, insulting or aggressive messages to provoke a target or disrupt conversations) and cyberstalking (the relentless monitoring, tracking or digitally harassing someone) (Ahmed, 2024; stopbullying.gov).

Popular social media platforms, text messaging and apps on mobile or tablet devices, are some of the main media for cyberbullying and digital harassment (stopbullying.gov). Researchers contend that the challenges posed by cyber harassment are multifaceted, involving legal, psychological, and technological encounters, with victims frequently suffering from severe emotional distress, privacy invasions, and reputational damage, while law enforcement agencies contend with the intricacies of jurisdiction and online threat dimensions (Bussu, Pulina, et al., 2023; Bussu, Ashton, et al., 2023).

Digital and Cyber Sexual Harassment

This can include sending or posting sexually explicit messages or images, making sexual comments or jokes, or threatening or intimidating someone in a sexual way, with devastating impact on victims, causing feelings of humiliation, fear, and even suicidal tendencies and in some cases, physical violence.

Some of the types of cyber sexual harassment include sextortion, harassment through texts or emails, sexual harassment through social media, revenge porn, and even online stalking. These types of harassment make victims feel violated, powerless, and alone. Sextortion and image-based abuse which has to do with forcing or threatening victims with the non-consensual sharing of intimate photos or videos is a prevalent form of harassment (Nagvanshi (2024).

Emergence in the Workplace

Digital and cyber sexual harassment has become prevalent due to the widespread adoption of digital technologies and communications in professional settings (Hall et. al., 2014), replacing traditional face-to-face interactions.

It presents unique challenges due to its anonymity, persistence, and potential to reach beyond the physical workplace (Livingstone and Brake, 2010), providing digital platforms that encourage the indulgence, causing damage to the victim’s physical and psychological health.

Gannet (2013)  describes a perpetrator as  someone who hides their identity behind a computer and attacks their target through electronic devices. Victims can include anyone, irrespective of their age, gender, sexuality, religion, race, or nationality (Nagvanshi, 2024).

It affects individuals across different demographics, including university students, corporate employees, and public figures. Ahmed (2024) reveals a disturbing prevalence: 10% of men, 30% of women, 20% of corporate employees, 10% transgender,10% minority and 10% of public figures reported experiencing various forms of cyber harassment. This creates a hostile work environment especially for victims, harming their mental health and reduces productivity.

Psychologically, digital and cyber harassment triggers anxiety, severe emotional distress, sleep disruption and lowered self-confidence. Professionally, it lowers workplace commitment and often forces employees to quit (Genga et. al., 2024).

Online disinhibition and rapid dissemination can cause significant physical and mental distress in targeted individuals. The ease of acting without restraint online and the rapid spread of such behaviours result in considerable emotional and physical harm to the targeted individual (Symons et. al., 2021).

Research also found striking gender disparity in reported incidents in the workplace. Women are disproportionately affected with half reporting experiences of cyber harassment compared to just on-tenth of men, a gap that attests to the broader societal issues related to gender-based violence and discrimination online. (Ahmed, 2024; stopbullying.gov).

Antecedents and Characteristics

Researchers have identified actions that lead to cyberbullying in the workplace as a blend of workplace environment and digital technologies. First, the workplace is a significant antecedent of cyberbullying (Symons et. al., 2021), with factors such as justice, organisational culture, organisational climate, support, and leadership playing crucial roles (Samsudin et. al., 2020). A competitive and high-pressure environment and an organisational climate with poor support can lead to more cyberbullying at work.

Culture, including shared values and unwritten norms, influences behaviour and is lenient toward cyberbullying in the workplace. Hierarchical and market cultures incite cyberbullying due to interpersonal power struggles linked to scarcity of resources.

Leadership that lacks support, recognition, respect, and effective organisation strategies, and weak management with insufficient HR policies, further exacerbates cyberbullying in the workplace (Symons et. al., 2021).

Secondly, cyberbullies use digital technology as the primary tool for negative actions. For example, email at work makes it easier to distribute private or unwanted information to the entire organisation. Additionally, social media platforms and smartphones allow cyberbullies to spread malicious acts beyond workplace boundaries (Symons et. al., 2021),

Outcomes and Consequences

Workplace cyberbullying and digital harassment affects individuals and organisations in many ways, leading to a compromised quality of care for victims, and increase in financial loss and a negative image of the workplace.

Increased absenteeism decreasing employee morale, and a lack of employee loyalty, trust, or teamwork (Symons, et. al., 2021). Online harassment must be recognised as an occupational risk, linked to long-term risks to psychological well-being (Levesque,(2026).

Harassment in the workplace ranging from workplace cyberbullying, cyber discrimination, and digital sexual harassment, is said to affect approximately 27% of working adults globally. Moore (2021) found in a 2020 survey that 44% of adult internet users had personally experienced some kind of online harassment. It has been reported that 75% of digital sexual harassment for instance are not reported. Research identified that 37% of harassments are cyber and digital sexual in nature.

It often leads to feelings of fear, shame, anxiety, and depression. Victims may also experience a loss of self-confidence and trust in others. In some cases, cyber sexual harassment can escalate to offline harassment or even physical violence (Nagvanshi, 2024). This can be devastating for victims affecting their mental health, emotional well-being job performance, and personal life among several others.

Organisations also face the damaging implications of cyberbullying in the workplace, since it compromises the efficacy and integrity of the organisation’s information systems. This increases employee turnover, lawsuits by victimised employees, and negative publicity harm the organisation’s overall performance (Loh and Snyman, 2020).

Employee motivation is also affected while leading to excessive stress and mental health in the long term. Psychological distress is experienced with symptoms of anxiety and depression, somatic symptoms and other behavioural and functional problems (Celuch et, al., 2020).

The challenges in dealing with digital harassments include anonymity and pseudonymity, burden of proof, legal and policy frameworks (Ahmed, 2024), which hinders efforts to identify and hold harassers accountable, leading to law enforcement complications. Proving harassment becomes challenging due to the fleeting nature of digital communication and the need for extensive documentation.

Individual and organisational responsibilities

Addressing cyber harassment require comprehensive countermeasures that integrate technological solutions, legal frameworks, and educational initiatives for instance, technological defences such as advanced algorithms for detecting and filtering abusive content and legal measures such as updating cyber laws to ensure they adequately protect victims and deter offenders. This is because cyberbullying can be persistent, permanent and hard to notice (Radanliev, 2024; Dawood et al., 2023),

It is important for victims to document online harassment such as taking screen shots of alleged harassment, profiling abusers to provide useful evidence for legal pursuit, avoid deleting content on the harassment and reporting the abuse to the appropriate quarters, especially if the abuse poses a threat to personal safety and life.

There is also the need to be security conscious. One way to ensure security is to first block the offending accounts, develop strong passwords, activate two-factor authentication and get knowledge on how to stay safe online (hecyberhelpline.com).

There are times when victims are blamed for harassment. Victim blaming can hinder efforts to address the issue effectively. It is important for victims to not allow themselves to be cajoled into keeping sexual harassment secret to protect influential perpetrators or those in leadership positions.

Where digital harassment against an individual extends to the workplace, either as to coworkers or the employer itself, a proactive, engaged, and coordinated response is imperative (Moore, 2021). Employers should take swift action by assessing the magnitude of reported situations, co-workers should speak up, employers should consider legal strategies  and retaining legal counsel on behalf of affected employees (to ensure better legal representation), while victims should be reminded of their rights.

Organisations have a responsibility to provide safe workplaces, deal with online abuse, applying a risk management approach to eliminate or minimise risks reasonably, identify the likely situations and channels that allow online abuse, assess the duration and frequency and severity of how workers may be exposed to online abuse in the workplace, and control the risks by implementing harm-reduction measures (esafety.gov.au).

Additionally, organisations must check that policies and procedures cover prevention and management of online abuse, including appropriate workplace conduct and acceptable use of digital platforms and devices.

Organisations should build culture and skills, making sure that employees including senior management are informed about online abuse, how it happens and how to prevent and deal with it. In conclusion, reports should be investigated and support offered to victims by dealing with harassment sensitively and promptly considering all contributing factors.

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