Sorry, Not Sorry: The Effect of Transgressors' Power on Apology and Non-Apology

Power is a basic element of social relationships. Anecdotal and empirical accounts suggest power corrupts individuals behaviour and leads to situations in which apologies would be beneficial. However, the role power plays in promoting or preventing transgressors motivation to apologize has not been investigated. The purpose of this dissertation was to programmatically explore and test how, why, and when transgressors power affects their willingness to apologize or not after an interpersonal transgression. Guided by power approach theory (Keltner et al., 2003), five studies (N = 903) were designed to explore the basic relationship between power and apology, establish causality, and test a theoretical mechanism and boundary condition. In Study 1, the basic relationship between transgressors dispositional power and both apology and non-apology were established. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated the causal relationship between transgressors power and willingness to apologize, with high-power transgressors reporting less willingness to apologize and being more willing to engage in non-apology than their low-power counterparts. Study 4 manipulated and tested a theoretical mechanism, self-other focus, to explain the causal relationship. Results showed that high-power transgressors who took an other-focus were the most apologetic and engaged in the least amount of non-apology. Study 5 was a cross-cultural study using Japanese and Canadian samples designed to test a moderator of the power-apology relationtransgressors cultural context. High-power transgressors from a collectivistic culture (i.e., Japan) were more apologetic whereas high-power transgressors from an individualistic culture (i.e., Canada) were less apologetic. Interestingly, low-power transgressors from Japan were the most likely to engage in non-apology. Overall, the research summarized in this dissertation supported theoretical predictions demonstrating a basic and causal relationship between transgressors power and their apologetic and non-apologetic responses, the explanatory role of self-other focus, and the moderating influence of transgressors cultural context. The methods, results, and implications of the findings are discussed and avenues for future research are proposed.

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