Compassion—an empathically motivated behavioral response to suffering that has been linked to numerous organizational benefits—is understood to be a relational process, but our understanding of the sufferer’s role in how that process plays out and to what effect is lacking due to limited attention to this role in the extant compassion literature. This hinders our knowledge of compassion as well as our understanding of how to promote workplace compassion. To address this, we conducted two studies examining how sufferers’ perceptions of compassion givers’ motives (other-oriented and self-oriented, which may co-occur) and their own expectations for compassion affect how they experience compassion. Results show that while the impact of compassion on sufferers’ emotional engagement was enhanced when they viewed compassion givers as more other-oriented and weakened when they viewed them as more self-oriented, these relationships were nuanced and also moderated by sufferers’ expectations. In particular, when sufferers saw compassion givers as more self-oriented, this only lessened the positive impact of compassion for sufferers when they concurrently perceived low other-oriented motives; this effect went away when they perceived other-oriented motives as concurrently high. A three-way interaction was also identified such that sufferers benefited from compassion more when they had high expectations for compassion and saw compassion givers as highly other-oriented regardless of how self-oriented compassion givers concurrently seemed to be. We discuss the results, implications, and limitations.
AguinisHBradleyKJ (2014) Best practice recommendations for designing and implementing experimental vignette methodology studies. Organizational Research Methods17: 351–371.
2.
AtkinsPWParkerSK (2012) Understanding individual compassion in organizations: The role of appraisals and psychological flexibility. Academy of Management Review37: 524–546.
3.
BaggettMGiambattistaLLobbestaelL, et al (2016) Exploring the human emotion of feeling cared for in the workplace. Journal of Nursing Management24: 816–824.
4.
BatsonCD (1987) Prosocial motivation: Is it ever truly altruistic?Advances in Experimental Social Psychology20: 65–122.
5.
BatsonCDPowellAA (2003) Altruism and prosocial behavior. In: MillonTLernerMJ (eds) Handbook of Psychology: Personality and Social Psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., pp. 463–484.
6.
BolinoMCGrantAM (2016) The bright side of being prosocial at work, and the dark side, too: A review and agenda for research on other-oriented motives, behavior, and impact in organizations. Academy of Management Annals10: 599–670.
7.
BolinoMCKlotzACTurnleyWH, et al (2013) Exploring the dark side of organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior34: 542–559.
8.
BolinoMCVarelaJABandeB, et al (2006) The impact of impression-management tactics on supervisor ratings of organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior27: 281–297.
9.
CarlsonRWZakiJ (2022) Belief in altruistic motives predicts prosocial actions and inferences. Psychological Reports125: 2191–2212.
10.
ChouSYRamserCChangT (2019) When is helping considered helping? The recipient’s view of helping during the stages of receiving help. International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior22: 79–95.
11.
CrockerJCanevelloA (2008) Creating and undermining social support in communal relationships: The role of compassionate and self-image goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology95: 555–575.
12.
De DreuCKNautaA (2009) Self-interest and other-orientation in organizational behavior: Implications for job performance, prosocial behavior, and personal initiative. Journal of Applied Psychology94: 913–926.
DuttonJEFrostPJWorlineMC, et al (2002) Leading in times of trauma. Harvard Business Review80: 54–61.
15.
DuttonJELiliusJMKanovJM (2007) The transformative potential of compassion at work. In PideritSKFryRECooperriderDL (eds) Handbook of Transformative Cooperation: New Designs and Dynamics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 107–126.
16.
DuttonJEWorkmanKMHardinAE (2014) Compassion at work. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior1: 277–230.
17.
DuttonJEWorlineMCFrostPJ, et al (2006) Explaining compassion organizing. Administrative Science Quarterly51: 59–96.
18.
EpleyNKumarADunganJ, et al (2023) A prosociality paradox: How miscalibrated social cognition creates a misplaced barrier to prosocial action. Current Directions in Psychological Science32: 33–41.
19.
FrostPJ (1999) Why compassion counts!Journal of Management Inquiry8: 127–133.
20.
FrostPJDuttonJEMaitlisS, et al (2006) Seeing organizations differently: Three lenses on compassion. In: CleggSRHardyCLawrenceTB, et al (eds) The Sage Handbook of Organization Studies. London: Sage Publications, pp. 843–866.
21.
GerbasiMEPrenticeDA (2013) The self-and other-interest inventory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology105: 495–514.
22.
GilbertP (2017) Compassion: Concepts, Research and Applications. London: Taylor & Francis.
23.
GilbertPBasranJKPlowrightP, et al (2023) Energizing compassion: Using music and community focus to stimulate compassion drive and sense of connectedness. Frontiers in Psychology14: 1150592.
24.
GoetzJLKeltnerDSimon-ThomasE (2010) Compassion: An evolutionary analysis and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin136: 351–374.
25.
GrantAMPatilSV (2012) Challenging the norm of self-interest: Minority influence and transitions to helping norms in work units. Academy of Management Review37: 547–568.
26.
GrantAMDuttonJERossoB (2008) Giving commitment: Employee support programs and the prosocial sensemaking process. Academy of Management Journal51: 898–918.
27.
HalbeslebenJRBowlerWMBolinoMC, et al (2010) Organizational concern, prosocial values, or impression management? How supervisors attribute motives to organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology40: 1450–1489.
28.
HarariDParkeMRMarrJC (2022) When helping hurts helpers: Anticipatory versus reactive helping, helper’s relative status, and recipient self-threat. Academy of Management Journal65: 1954–1983.
29.
HazenMA (2008) Grief and the workplace. Academy of Management Perspectives22: 78–86.
30.
KahnWA (1990) Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal33: 692–724.
31.
KahnWABartonMAFellowsS (2013) Organizational crises and the disturbance of relational systems. Academy of Management Review38: 377–396.
32.
KanovJ (2021) Why suffering matters!Journal of Management Inquiry30: 85–90.
33.
KanovJMaitlisSWorlineMC, et al (2004) Compassion in organizational life. American Behavioral Scientist47: 808–827.
34.
KellyGA (1970) A brief introduction to personal construct theory. Perspectives in Personal Construct Theory1: 1–25.
35.
KonrathSHoMHZarinsS (2016) The strategic helper: Narcissism and prosocial motives and behaviors. Current Psychology35: 182–194.
36.
KrosnickJA (1991) Response strategies for coping with the cognitive demands of attitude measures in surveys. Applied Cognitive Psychology5: 213–236.
37.
LiliusJMKanovJDuttonJE, et al (2011a) Compassion revealed: What we know about compassion at work (and where we need to know more). In: CameronKSSpreitzerGS (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 273–287.
38.
LiliusJMWorlineMCDuttonJE, et al (2011b) Understanding compassion capability. Human Relations64: 873–899.
39.
LiliusJMWorlineMCMaitlisS, et al (2008) The contours and consequences of compassion at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior29: 193–218.
40.
LownBAManningCHassmillerSB (2020) Does organizational compassion matter? A cross-sectional survey of nurses. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration50: 78–84.
41.
MartinJKnopoffKBeckmanC (1998) An alternative to bureaucratic impersonality and emotional labor: Bounded emotionality at The Body Shop. Administrative Science Quarterly43: 429–469.
42.
McAdamsDPMcLeanKC (2013) Narrative identity. Current Directions in Psychological Science22: 233–238.
43.
MelwaniSMuellerJSOverbeckJR (2012) Looking down: The influence of contempt and compassion on emergent leadership categorizations. Journal of Applied Psychology97: 1171–1185.
44.
MillerDT (1999) The norm of self-interest. American Psychologist54: 1053–1060.
45.
MorelliSALeeIAArnnME, et al (2015) Emotional and instrumental support provision interact to predict well-being. Emotion15: 484–493.
46.
OppenheimerDMMeyvisTDavidenkoN (2009) Instructional manipulation checks: Detecting satisficing to increase statistical power. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology45: 867–872.
47.
PengCNelissenRMZeelenbergM (2018) Reconsidering the roles of gratitude and indebtedness in social exchange. Cognition and Emotion32: 760–772.
48.
PowleyEH (2009) Reclaiming resilience and safety: Resilience activation in the critical period of crisis. Human Relations62: 1289–1326.
49.
RaphaelK (1987) Recall bias: A proposal for assessment and control. International Journal of Epidemiology16: 167–170.
50.
RichBLLepineJACrawfordER (2010) Job engagement: Antecedents and effects on job performance. Academy of Management Journal53: 617–635.
51.
SchabramKHengYT (2022) How other-and self-compassion reduce burnout through resource replenishment. Academy of Management Journal65: 453–478.
52.
SeppäläEMSimon-ThomasEBrownSL, et al (eds) (2017) The Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
53.
SimpsonAVCleggSPitsisT (2014) “I used to care but things have changed”: A genealogy of compassion in organizational theory. Journal of Management Inquiry23: 347–359.
54.
ToegelGKilduffMAnandN (2013) Emotion helping by managers: An emergent understanding of discrepant role expectations and outcomes. Academy of Management Journal56: 334–357.
55.
VaishRLiaoQVBellottiV (2018) What’s in it for me? Self-serving versus other-oriented framing in messages advocating use of prosocial peer-to-peer services. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies109: 1–12.
56.
WatkinsMBRenRUmphressEE, et al (2015) Compassion organizing: Employees’ satisfaction with corporate philanthropic disaster response and reduced job strain. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology88: 436–458.
57.
WeggeJDickRVFisherGK, et al (2006) A test of basic assumptions of Affective Events Theory (AET) in call centre work. British Journal of Management17: 237–254.
58.
WeinsteinNRyanRM (2010) When helping helps: Autonomous motivation for prosocial behavior and its influence on well-being for the helper and recipient. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology98: 222–244.
59.
WestermannRSpiesKStahlG, et al (1996) Relative effectiveness and validity of mood induction procedures: A meta-analysis. European Journal of Social Psychology26: 557–580.
60.
WorlineMDuttonJE (2017) Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power That Elevates People and Organizations. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
61.
ZakiJOchsnerKN (2012) The neuroscience of empathy: Progress, pitfalls and promise. Nature Neuroscience15: 675–680.
62.
ZuckerLG (1987) Institutional theories of organization. Annual Review of Sociology13: 443–464.
