Impacts of Expressed Gratitude and Apologies on Japanese University Students’ and Workers’ Perceived Closeness: Mediating Roles of Responsiveness and Predicted Outcome Values

ABSTRACT

Literature on expressed gratitude and apologies has predominantly focused on their effects within the realm of interpersonal relationships. However, it is crucial to extend the examination of these communication styles to work settings, where interpersonal dynamics significantly impact productivity. To address this, two experiments were conducted to compare the impacts of expressed gratitude and apologies among Japanese university students and company employees. The initial experiment, involving university students (n = 139), revealed that expressed gratitude heightened responsiveness and predicted outcome values in comparison to messages lacking either gratitude or apologies. The subsequent experiment, encompassing company employees (n = 499), unveiled that the effects of messages varied based on the relative statuses of the message sender.

KEYWORDS:

• Gratitude
• apology
• closeness
• Japan
• workplace

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Douglas Moore for his meticulous English proofreading, which significantly enhanced the clarity and professionalism of the manuscript. I am also deeply indebted to the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful and constructive feedback, which greatly improved the quality of the work. Finally, I extend my heartfelt appreciation to the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Yuping Mao for her support and guidance throughout the review process.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee of the university the author belonged to. 1st experiment’s permission number is 20–102. 2nd experiment’s permission number is 22–013.

Human and Animal Rights

This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. Data: https://osf.io/qzw8b/?view_only=f74b0e8f4bf943419bbb5ab21451a867

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in these studies.

Notes

1. The phrase at the end of the message from the hypothetical friend, “it would be appreciated!” was written in Japanese as “Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!” There is no direct equivalent of “Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!” in English. It can be interpreted as “Sincerely,” “Nice to meet you,” or “That would be appreciated,” depending on the context. However, the impact of this phrase was not deemed significant in the context of this study. Firstly, as it is a typical concluding remark in Japanese messages, Japanese participants might not attach much significance to it. Secondly, even if they perceive it as an expression of gratitude, it was present in all conditions. Therefore, the likelihood of this phrase biasing the results is considered low.

2. The phrase at the end of the message from the hypothetical friend, “Your help would be appreciated” was written in Japanese as “Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu.” Please refer to the explanation above.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tatsuya Imai

Tatsuya Imai (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is an assistant professor in the Department of British and American Studies at Nanzan University. Direct correspondence to Tatsuya Imai, Department of British and American Studies at Nanzan University, 18 Yamazato-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, Japan.