A normatividade do perdão interpessoal em ambientes de trabalho

Abstract

Studies carried out by Aguiar (2018) revealed that the forgiveness of injustices that occur in family and friendship relationships is an attitude that has social value. Therefore, forgiveness is affected by the context in which grievances occur. Considering that, this dissertation aimed to investigate whether the forgiveness of injustices that occur in work environments is an attitude that also has social value. To achieve this goal, this dissertation was organized into two articles that adopted the socio-cognitive approach to the study of social norms as a theoretical and methodological framework (Dubois, 2003; Gilibert & Cambon, 2003). The first article investigated the social valorization of forgiveness in work environments through desirability and social utility. In this article, two experimental studies were carried out. In Study 1 (N = 80), participants were instructed to respond to an adaptation of the Interpersonal Problem Resolution (ERPI) scale to transmit a positive or negative personal image of themselves. The results revealed that the participants described themselves as people who had a high capacity to forgive when transmitting a positive personal image and, thus, desirable in the eyes of other people. In Study 2 (N = 183), participants were asked to evaluate three interviews with alleged job candidates who expressed different degrees of agreement with forgiveness: little vs moderately vs strongly. Two instruments were used to measure the participants’ assessment: a list of adjectives (α = 0.81) and a global assessment index (α = 0.95). The results revealed that candidates who agreed to forgiveness to a higher degree were more positively assessed by the participants. Taken together, the results of the two studies suggest that forgiveness is a valued (i.e., desirable and useful) attitude in work environments. In addition, they reveal that people manipulate their degree of agreement with forgiveness to convey a socially positive personal image, which is an effective strategy for judging other people. The second article investigated the use of the virtue of forgiveness in interpersonal differentiation and self-promotion strategies and the influence of the degree of proximity to the injustice agent on the degree of forgiveness in work environments. In Study 1 (N = 182), a factorial design 2 (referring to: expressing one’s opinion vs responding according to the opinion of a colleague) x 2 (target: work colleagues vs bosses) was used. The results revealed that the participants described themselves as people who forgive to a high degree, thus transmitting a positive and desirable personal image, corroborating the results of Study 1 of the first article. In addition, these results reinforce the findings of Study 1 of this second article, which indicate that peers (i.e., co-workers) are forgiven to a greater degree than superiors (i.e., bosses) are forgiven. The results indicated that the participants described themselves as people who forgive the injustices committed by coworkers more than their peers do. In Study 2 (N = 215), a factorial design 2 (image: positive vs negative) x 2 (target: coworkers vs bosses) was also used. The results revealed that the participants described themselves as people who forgive to a high degree, thus transmitting a positive and desirable personal image, corroborating the results of Study 1 of the first article. In addition, these results reinforce the findings of Study 1 of this second article, which indicate that peers (i.e., coworkers) are forgiven to a greater degree than superiors (i.e., bosses) are forgiven. In conclusion, the results reveal that forgiveness is a socially desirable and useful virtue (article 1) for those with whom there is a greater degree of closeness (article 2). Overall, studies consistently indicate that forgiveness for injustices in the workplace is a valuable attitude.