Zheng, Xue, Van Dijke, Marius, Leunissen, Joost M, Giurge, Laura M. 
ORCID: 0000-0002-7974-391X and De Cremer, David
(2016)
When saying sorry may not help: transgressor power moderates the effect of an apology on forgiveness in the workplace.
Human Relations, 69 (6).
1387 - 1418.
ISSN 0018-7267
Abstract
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.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | https://journals.sagepub.com/home/hum |
| Additional Information: | © 2016 SAGE |
| Divisions: | Psychological and Behavioural Science |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Jun 2022 07:48 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Dec 2024 00:44 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/115320 |
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