The role of forgivingness and anger in unfair events

In this paper, we examine the roles of forgivingness (i.e., forgiving personality) and anger on victims' responses to unfair events. Results of our study show that the effect of perceived unfairness severity on one's behavioral responses is mediated by his/her anger. In addition, forgivingness moderates the relationship between perceived unfairness severity and victim's revenge behavior, such that individuals who are high in forgivingness engage in less revenge in response to unfair events. The results however show that anger does not mediate between the perceived unfairness severity-by-forgivingness interaction effect on victims' revenge behavior. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.