When saying sorry may not help: Transgressor power moderates the effect of an apology on forgiveness in the workplace

Xue Zheng (First Author), Joost M Leunissen (Participant Author), Laura M Giurge (Participant Author), Marius van Dijke (Participant Author), David De Cremer (Participant Author)

科研成果: 期刊稿件期刊论文

摘要

An apology, as an expression of remorse, can be an effective response from a transgressor to obtain forgiveness from a victim. Yet, to be effective, the victim should not construe the transgressor’s actions in a cynical way. Because low-power people tend to interpret the actions of high-power people in a cynical way, we argue that an apology (versus no apology) from high-power transgressors should be relatively ineffective in increasing forgiveness from low-power victims. We find support for this moderated mediation model in a critical incidents study (Study 1), a forced recall study (Study 2) among employees from various organizations and a controlled laboratory experiment among business students (Study 3). These studies reveal the limited value of expressions of remorse by high-power people in promoting forgiveness.
源语言英语
页(从-至)1387-1418
期刊Human Relations
69
6
DOI
出版状态已出版 - 2016

Corresponding author email

zhengxue.academic@gmail.com

关键词

  • apology
  • cynicism
  • forgiveness
  • power
  • remorse

成果物的来源

  • FT
  • ABDC-A*
  • Scopus

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