Overlooking interpersonal hurt: A global processing style influences forgiveness in work relationships

Abstract

Interpersonal offences occur routinely in the workplace and are often not forgiven. Unforgiveness has negative consequences, including reduced mental and physical well-being. Therefore, it is necessary to increase our understanding on how interpersonal forgiveness is achieved. We propose that forgiveness can be influenced by generalized modes of information processing (broad vs. narrow processing), temporarily activated by earlier tasks. A prior task activating a broad (vs. narrow) focus of attention would facilitate willingness to forgive. Supporting this, in three experiments, a broad mental perspective evoked in a prior unrelated task increased willingness to forgive offences by colleagues. This occurs by making the offense appear less severe. We discuss implications for theorizing on interpersonal forgiveness and for organizations.

Keywords:

• Global/local processing style
• Forgiveness
• Priming
• Interpersonal offences

APPENDIX

Forgiveness measure (experiment 1)

Imagine the following 8 scenarios and indicate your response for each:

1. You share something embarrassing about yourself to a coworker who promises to keep the information confidential. However, the coworker breaks his/her promise and proceeds to tell several people at work. What is the likelihood that you would choose to forgive the coworker?

2. A coworker starts a nasty rumor about you that is not true. As a result, people at work begin treating you worse than they have in the past. What is the likelihood that you would choose to forgive the coworker?

3. A coworker borrows a valued possession, and then loses it. The coworker refuses to replace it. What is the likelihood that you would choose to forgive the coworker?

4. You spent a lot of time working on a project. However, your coworker presents it as their own and gets the credit for her/himself. What is the likelihood that you would choose to forgive the coworker?

5. A coworker has been talking about you behind your back. When you confront this person, s/he denies it, even though you know that s/he is lying. What is the likelihood that you would choose to forgive the coworker?

6. A coworker breaks into your office drawer and steals a substantial sum of money from you. What is the likelihood that you would choose to forgive the coworker?

7. A coworker humiliates you in front of others by sharing a story about you that you did not want anyone to know. What is the likelihood that you would choose to forgive the coworker?

8. Your significant other has just broken up with you, leaving you hurt and confused. You learn that the reason for the break up is that your significant other started dating your coworker. What is the likelihood that you would choose to forgive the coworker?

Notes

¹ In all our studies, we planned to collect up to 100 participants or at least 20 observations per condition. We stopped data collection at convenient time points (e.g., the end of the week).

² Because online participants might not be engaged enough in studies (compared to laboratory participants), we had a priori exclusion criteria in all studies. Our a priori exclusion criteria were evidence of (i) not writing words relevant to the nouns (experiment 1), (ii) not providing any concrete information about the offense (experiments 2 and 3), or (iii) suspecting that the priming tasks influenced subsequent tasks, as indicated in the open-ended study comments box at the end (experiments 1–3). Participants who met any one a priori exclusion criteria would need to be excluded from the analysis, but no participants met the criteria in the present studies.

³ Below is a selection of participants’ responses describing a prior interpersonal offense: “Guy comes up to me and straight-up asks, no prompting or anything, ‘Are you Jewish?’ What kind of person just goes up to a co-worker and directly asks their religion? It made me very uncomfortable, confused, and a little annoyed. I’m not Jewish, but my last name (and family) is, so I can understand why he’d ask, but I felt like he was going to ask me to wear a gold star on my shirt or something. It doesn’t help that this guy is absolutely horrible at talking and holding a conversation with him is like talking to a pile of sand.”“I recall when I arrived early for a day at work and after I sat down to work, my supervisor V came to me and started talking about the work I had done and it not being satisfactory. This upset me because I didn’t do the work he accused me of messing up and I couldn’t get a word in edge wise. He angered me and at the end of his statements he told me if it happened again my job would be at risk and walked away. I felt hurt and discouraged.”

⁴ Removing this covariate does not alter the pattern of results.

⁵ Indeed, past studies on a global (vs. local) processing style assess the dependent measures immediately following the priming manipulation (e.g., Förster, 2009; Friedman et al., 2003).