How employees respond to personal offense: The effects of blame attribution, victim status, and offender status on revenge and reconciliation in the workplace

This study investigated the relationships between blame. victim and offende r status. and the pursuit of revenge or reconciliation after a personal off ense. Results from a sample of 141 government agency employees showed that blame is positively related to revenge and negatively related to reconcilia tion. In addition, victim-offender relative status moderated the relation b etween blame and revenge such that victims who blamed sought revenge more o ften when the offender's status was lower than their own. The victims' own absolute hierarchical status also moderated this relation such that lower. not higher, status employees who blamed sought revenge more often.