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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human relations (New York) 2016-06, Vol.69 (6), p.1387-1418
Main Authors: Zheng, Xue, van Dijke, Marius, Leunissen, Joost M, Giurge, Laura M, De Cremer, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apologies
Forgiveness
Power
Studies
Work environment
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0018-7267
1741-282X
DOI:10.1177/0018726715611236