IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v116y2020icp314-323.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

You’re offended, I’m offended! An empirical study of the proclivity to be offended and what it says about employees’ attitudes and behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Bernerth, Jeremy B.

Abstract

For all the news stories devoted to individuals taking offense to various issues, little is known about these individuals or their work-related habits. To address this important gap in organizational and societal knowledge, the reported research draws on cognitive interference theory to define and measure the proclivity to be offended (PTBO). This measure was hypothesized to serve as an off-task stimuli, and results of a time-separated multi-source study found PTBO negatively relates to employees’ task performance and citizenship behavior, and positively relates to counterproductive behavior, as rated by one’s supervisor. PTBO also had implications for employees’ self-reported job satisfaction and workplace engagement. Building on the idea that PTBO may also influence the way employees view their organization’s actions, overall organizational justice was hypothesized and found to mediate the relationship between PTBO and both employees’ behavior and attitudes. Implications for managers and organizations concerned with modern societal movements are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernerth, Jeremy B., 2020. "You’re offended, I’m offended! An empirical study of the proclivity to be offended and what it says about employees’ attitudes and behaviors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 314-323.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:116:y:2020:i:c:p:314-323
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.040
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296320303416
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.040?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matthew Cartabuke & James W. Westerman & Jacqueline Z. Bergman & Brian G. Whitaker & Jennifer Westerman & Rafik I. Beekun, 2019. "Empathy as an Antecedent of Social Justice Attitudes and Perceptions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 605-615, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hou, Tingting & Luo, Xin (Robert) & Ke, Dan & Cheng, Xusen, 2022. "Exploring different appraisals in deviant sharing behaviors: A mixed-methods study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 496-509.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yanina Rashkova & Ludovica Moi & Francesca Cabiddu, 2024. "Addressing the Societal Challenges in Organizations: The Conceptualization of Mindfulness Capability for Social Justice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(2), pages 249-268, January.
    2. Zhe Zhang & Xintong Ji, 2023. "A Virtual Net Locks Me In: How and When Information and Communication Technology Use Intensity Leads to Knowledge Hiding," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 187(3), pages 611-626, October.
    3. Reut Livne-Tarandach & Erica Steckler & Jennifer Leigh & Sara Wheeler-Smith, 2021. "Cultivating Organizations as Healing Spaces: A Typology for Responding to Suffering and Advancing Social Justice," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 373-404, December.
    4. Zhe Zhang & Juan Wang & Ming Jia, 2022. "Multilevel Examination of How and When Socially Responsible Human Resource Management Improves the Well-Being of Employees," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(1), pages 55-71, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:116:y:2020:i:c:p:314-323. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.