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The Impact of Post‐Apology Behavioral Consistency on Victim's Forgiveness Intention: A Study of Trust Violation Among Coworkers 1
Author(s) -
HUI C. HARRY,
LAU FELICIA L.Y.,
TSANG KARINA L.C.,
PAK S. TESS
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2011.00754.x
Subject(s) - forgiveness , psychology , consistency (knowledge bases) , social psychology , sample (material) , chemistry , geometry , mathematics , chromatography
This study extended past research and investigated how post‐apology behavioral consistency influences subsequent forgiveness in an organizational setting. Using a sample of 326 working adults, we confirmed that post‐apology behavioral consistency is an important boundary condition of the effectiveness of apology in eliciting forgiveness. Despite having received an apology, the victim's intention to forgive would be low if the perpetrator displayed behaviors inconsistent with the apology made, but would be reinforced by the offending colleague's behaving in accordance with the apology. People who have initially forgiven their colleagues are less susceptible to influences by subsequent post‐apology behavioral inconsistency, although trust continues to be harmed by repeat violations.