When talk is not cheap: Substantive penance and expressions of intent in rebuilding cooperation

摘要

Some interesting preliminary observations are: 1. The ability to build, maintain, and repair cooperative interactions has become a critical management competency. 2. Interpersonal relationships can be fragile; the mere perception of opportunistic behavior can lead to breakdown in cooperation. 3. In discussing the dynamics of defection, penance, forgiveness and reconciliation, this paper: 3.1 Focuses on the mechanisms involved in restoring cooperation and, in particular, investigates the response to and the effectiveness of several different forms of penance in the restoration process. 3.2 Draws from the literature on both the dilemma research and justice research to investigate the consequences of disrupting cooperation and subsequent attempts to enact its restoration. The paper proposes eight hypotheses and tests them using 225 undergraduate MBA students. The paper concludes that rebuilding cooperation is feasible; once breached, cooperation can be reestablished and that actions as well as explanations and apologies can augment the process in important and sometimes subtle ways.