Perceiving the Inevitable: Understanding Observer Reactions to Workplace Mistreatment Through the Lens of System Justification Theory

Abstract

System justification theory posits that individuals tend to justify and maintain the status quo. For workplace mistreatment, we argue this tendency can elicit psychological processes in observers that may further disadvantage targets of mistreatment. We propose that organizational climates that are perceived to tolerate mistreatment increase the likelihood that observers perceive specific instances of mistreatment as inevitable. This can activate system justification tendencies in which observers evaluate the mistreatment incident as more legitimate and the target as less legitimate, prompting harmful observer reactions (e.g., minimizing the incident, negatively gossiping about the target). To investigate system justification in observer reactions, we validate a measure of perceived mistreatment inevitability and conduct a multiwave survey to test our hypotheses. Our findings indicate that organizational climates that tolerate mistreatment increase observers' perceptions that specific instances of mistreatment are inevitable, thereby activating processes that prompt observers to justify and maintain the status quo. Theoretical implications include identifying what activates system justification, why observers justify mistreatment, and how these tendencies elicit harmful reactions further disadvantaging targets. Practically, our findings highlight the importance of addressing organizational climates that tolerate mistreatment, avoiding reliance on observers to intervene constructively, and effectively addressing mistreatment to prevent further harm to targets.