Downstream Consequences of Post-Transgression Responses: A Motive-Attribution Framework

Victims commonly respond to experienced wrongdoing by punishing or forgiving the transgressor. While much research has looked at predictors and immediate consequences of these post-transgression responses, comparably less research has addressed the conditions under which punishment or forgiveness have positive or negative downstream consequences on the victim–transgressor relationship. Drawing from research on Social Value Orientation (SVO), we argue that both forgiveness and punishment can be rooted in either prosocial (i.e., relationship- or other-oriented), individualistic (i.e., self-oriented), or competitive (i.e., harm-oriented) motives pursued by the victim. Furthermore, we posit that downstream consequences of forgiveness and punishment crucially depend on how the transgressor interprets the victim’s response. The novel motive-attribution framework presented here highlights the importance of alignment between a victim’s motives and a transgressor’s motive attributions underlying post-transgression responses. This framework thus contributes to a better understanding of positive and negative dynamics following post-transgression interactions.

The Worst-Motive Fallacy: A Negativity Bias in Motive Attribution

In this article, we describe a hitherto undocumented fallacy—in the sense of a mistake in reasoning—constituted by a negativity bias in the way that people attribute motives to others. We call this the “worst-motive fallacy,” and we conducted two experiments to investigate it. In Experiment 1 ( N = 323), participants expected protagonists in a variety of fictional vignettes to pursue courses of action that satisfy the protagonists’ worst motive, and furthermore, participants significantly expected the protagonist to pursue a worse course of action than they would prefer themselves. Experiment 2 ( N = 967) was a preregistered attempted replication of Experiment 1, including a bigger range of vignettes; the first effect was not replicated for the new vignettes tested but was for the original set. Also, we once again found that participants expected protagonists to be more likely than they were themselves to pursue courses of action that they considered morally bad. We discuss the worst-motive fallacy’s relation to other well-known biases as well as its possible evolutionary origins and its ethical (and meta-ethical) consequences.

Not Fake News: Toxic Consequences of the Trump Stress Effect

Soon after the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, Sisti and Baum-Baicker predicted that researchers “have an opportunity to conduct a natural experiment and examine the health effects of toxic stress.” In this article, the stressors related to the Trump presidency are delineated and understood as fertile ground for toxic stress reactions. The physical, behavioral, emotional, and interpersonal effects of this kind of unrelenting stress are detailed. Data presented were gathered from a variety of large-scale sources (e.g., American Psychological Association, Pew Research Center, Gallup) and research journals. Data strongly support the validity of the “Trump stress effect” and are viewed through the lenses of terror management theory, motive attribution asymmetry, and the Freudian and Kleinian unconscious.

Perceived Sustainability Practices, Turnover Intentions, and Organizational Identification in Hotel Industries

Research Question: The present study intends to study the effect of employees’ perception of their hotel’s sustainability practices and motive to undertake those practices on their identification with the organization and their intentions to quit. Motivation: Over the past few years, the hotel industry has heeded to the need of sustainability, but its effect on human resource outcomes needs attention. Earlier research reports that adopting sustainable practices enhances the reputation of the organisations, and positively impacts the employees’ organisational identification and intention to stay in the organisation. The bearings of such practices are seen in the expected cash flows and growth of the industry. Idea: The core idea behind this research was to investigate the effect of perceived sustainability activities and motive attribution on human resource outcomes. In the study, perceived sustainability activities and motive attribution were the independent variables whose effect was seen in the human resource outcomes, namely, organizational identification and intentions to quit. Data: The sample comprises 137 managers from star hotels of Vadodara and Ahmedabad. The data were collected over a period of 4 months. Tools: The survey questionnaire adopted already established scales on environmental sustainability, turnover intentions, organisational identification and motive attribution. The researchers added a few questions on social and economic sustainability to capture the whole concept of sustainable development. Findings: The findings of the study indicate employee welfare is a significant predictor of organizational identification and turnover intentions in hotel industries. Moreover, intrinsic, as well as extrinsic motive attribution are necessary to encourage employees to take ownership and retain it. Contribution: The study implies that hoteliers must channelize their resources to enhance employee welfare. Utmost care and support will be reciprocated in terms of higher organisational identification and lower turnover rates. Efforts must also be made to educate all the employees as regards the reasons for undertaking policies and actions. This will help them understand the organisational values and encourage them to align their values with the organisation. The way employees allocate reasons for conducting sustainability has implications for the judgement and actions of both managers and employees. It also plays a role in motivating them to involve themselves in sustainable activities. This research also suggests research areas for future studies. The researchers foresee the results of this research will be intriguing for policy makers and future researchers as knowledge of how employees inculcate sustainability in their actions proves the policy success rate.

Motive Attribution and the Moral Politics of the Welfare State

This article explores the moral politics of the welfare state and the social conflicts that underlie them. We argue that existing research on the moralism of redistributive and social policy preferences is overly one-dimensional, with a longstanding concentration on attitudes toward welfare state beneficiaries. To widen our understanding of the phenomenon, we introduce the concept of motive attribution: that is, how people answer the question “what drives others to take the positions that they hold?” Doing so allows us to shift the subject of moralistic attitudes, with a move toward uncovering what citizens think of those who hold a given social policy stance. The article then lays out a first systematic overview of motive attributions using an original dataset built from nationally representative surveys conducted in ten Western democracies. Comparing responses across these countries, we draw out important cross-national differences in ascribed motives, including within welfare state regime types.

Where to engage in CSR? The influence of social cause proximity on attitude toward small-sized (vs large-sized) sporting goods retailers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine whether consumers’ attitude toward sporting goods retailers depends on who engages in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and where CSR takes place. The study aims to replicate previous findings on football teams (Kulczycki and Koenigstorfer, 2016) for for-profit sporting goods retailers by looking at how organization size and proximity of the supported cause to the retailers’ headquarters interact with consumers’ motive attributions for CSR (philanthropic vs profit). Design/methodology/approach In total, 200 participants took part in the experimental study. The study applied a between-participant design manipulating both the proximity of the supported social cause (local vs distant CSR) and the size of the organization (small- vs large-sized organization) and measured perceived motives for CSR as independent variables. Attitude toward retailers was the dependent variable. Findings The results of regression analyses showed that perceived philanthropic motives increased attitude toward retailers. This relationship became stronger for large-sized sporting goods retailers, in particular when they engaged in CSR activities at distant locations. For small-sized retailers, the proximity of CSR did not impact on the relationship between motive attribution and attitude toward the retailer. Practical implications Large-sized retailers are encouraged to take particular care that consumers perceive CSR activities as philanthropy-driven, especially when supporting social causes at distant locations. Originality/value The study replicates previous findings and shows that not only for sports teams, but also for sporting good retailers, CSR can increase consumer attitudes even when the consumer population at the organization headquarters’ location does not directly benefit from CSR.

Closed-ended and open-ended fit articulation

Purpose Previous research suggests that firms should articulate incongruent sponsorships to provide a rationale for the relationship between sponsor and sponsorship object. Fit articulation is a strategy that communicates shared associations between sponsor and object. Based on conclusion explicitness theory, this paper aims to conceptualize and tests two fit articulation strategies in sponsorships: open-ended and closed-ended. Design/methodology/approach Research hypotheses were tested in two experiments. Findings Only open-ended fit articulation improved brand attitudes. Mediation analyses show that while open-ended articulation influenced brand attitudes through brand image (Study 1 and Study 2) and altruistic motive attributions (Study 2), there was an indirect effect of closed-ended articulation on brand attitudes through global fit perceptions (Study 2). Practical implications The results from two experiments suggest that incongruent sponsors should use open-ended conclusions about a shared image dimension. Although explicit arguments may increase global perceptions of fit, they may impede a positive impact on the articulated brand image dimension and generation of altruistic motive attribution. Therefore, sponsorship managers should be careful in terms of using explicit arguments for fit when the sponsorship is incongruent because such arguments may hinder articulation from generating goodwill and a positive brand image. Originality/value This is the first paper to develop and test different types of fit articulation strategies in sponsorships.