Academic Transgressions: The Intersectionality of Cultural, Societal, Organizational, and Personal Factors

Abstract
Humans are both maintainers and transgressors of the social orders they construct, and academics are no exception. One form of transgression in universities is sexual harassment perpetrated by faculty members, encompassing both criminalized and non-criminalized behaviors. The present study sought to reduce the research gap on this issue within the country, which does not imply the prevalence of such deviant behaviors. This research aimed to present a theoretical integration model of the factors facilitating the occurrence of this transgression, thereby providing a foundation for culturally adapted preventive measures and further studies within the country. To this end, a theoretical integration method was employed, using propositional, side-by-side theoretical integration and combining macro–micro and interdisciplinary perspectives.
In this study, intersectionality theory, beyond discriminatory positions and identities, was extended to the intersection of cultural factors (social and organizational culture), social factors, organizational factors, and individual factors shaping these identities, to demonstrate in a multi-layered model that the entanglement of these factors at macro-, meso-, and micro-levels in universities, as a site for their intersectionality, can amplify the risk of either being a victim of or perpetrating sexual transgression. These factors are further complicated by the challenges of defining sexual transgressions and the gendered socio-organizational power dynamics. This model can assist university leaders, faculty, staff, students, and higher education policymakers in developing a more comprehensive understanding of faculty-perpetrated sexual transgressions and devising more effective, proactive, and non-coercive responses for their prevention and confrontation.