Silencing bystanders: the institutional structuring of responses to workplace sexual harassment incidents in India

Purpose This paper aims to examine how bystanders in Indian workplaces interpret and respond to incidents of sexual harassment, and how relational, organizational and cultural dynamics shape their decisions to intervene or remain silent. Design/methodology/approach Based on narrative interviews with 17 professionals across corporate, health care and academic sectors, the study uses thematic analysis informed by a three-stage narrative coding process and iterative strategies. Findings Bystander behavior emerges as a socially situated, psychologically mediated and ideologically inflected phenomenon. Silence often operates as a strategic, socially legitimized survival mechanism, shaped by institutional ambiguity, reputational risks and relational dependencies. Organizational cultures frequently valorize inaction, privileging procedural compliance over moral accountability and institutional image over justice. Originality/value This study advances bystander intervention and moral disengagement theories. It introduces the ecology of the deferred intervention framework, built on three pillars, namely, moral rationalization, relational containment and institutional normalization. It also proposes a novel bystander typology that situates responses along relational, temporal and organizational dimensions. The framework reveals a continuum from moral disengagement to ethical agency.