Game Theory and the #MeToo Movement
Sexual misconduct in the workplace is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it has affected female workers for decades, and most cases go unreported. However, this began to change in October 2017, when the New York Times published a story on Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein on his alleged sexual misconduct that spans more than 30 years.
After the story went mainstream, actor Alyssa Milano through a tweet urged her fans to tweet ‘me too’ if they’ve ever been sexually harassed. More than tens of thousands of people responded within 24 hours raising awareness that sexual harassment was prevalent. With this, the #MeToo movement was birthed.
There are numerous reasons where the movement attracted a large audience. One puzzle is an understanding of why sexual harassment was under-reported before the launch of the movement. Professor of finance at Tuck Ing-Haw Cheng addresses this issue through his paper “Reporting Sexual Misconduct in the #MeToo Era.”
Cheng and co-author Alice Hsiaw, Brandeis University, use a mathematical model that is based on game theory to explain why sexual misconduct is under-reported in most cases. The model shows that a victim will not report the incident fearing that others may not report their ordeal. As such all individuals become unwilling to report the matter.
Most sexual misconduct cases in the business environment are often reported to the human resource department. But the true nature of sexual misconduct often happens behind closed doors and gaining physical evidence is daunting. As such, HR is more likely to act on the matter if other individuals report of similar abuses.
Cheng says that this creates a coordination problem since the individual doesn’t know if others will also report the misconduct.
Source: https://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/game-theory-and-the-metoo-movement
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