Accepting retaliation in the workplace : findings from a quasi-experimental investigation

Abstract

"Is it acceptable when a company dismisses a worker because of a small property offense? What about workers who withhold information to their superiors because their performance bonus was cancelled? This vignette study works out if and under which conditions bystanders assess these and similar retaliation measures as acceptable. Participants in an online panel were asked to judge the acceptability of different scenarios. The results show that respondents rather accept weaker than stronger retaliations, and that they rather accept measures that violate only organizational norms, but no legal norms. However, it also important what caused the reaction - for instance the acceptance of layoffs increases with the level of previous damage done to the employer. The characteristics of employers and employees described have, however, only a small impact on acceptance rates. Regarding the characteristics of survey participants, especially age had a significant impact - older persons are significantly less likely to accept norm violations than younger people." (Author's abstract, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))

Cite article

Stephan, G. & Uthmann, S. (2016): Akzeptanz von Vergeltungsmaßnahmen am Arbeitsplatz. Befunde aus einer quasi-experimentellen Untersuchung. In: Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, Vol. 68, No. 4, p. 693-712. DOI:10.1007/s11577-016-0389-y