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.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1387-1418 |
Journal | Human Relations |
Early online date | 2 Feb 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2016 |
Keywords
- apology
- cynicism
- forgiveness
- power
- remorse
- 2020