Schadenfreude: a counternormative observer response to workplace mistreatment

Although almost all employees have heard of or witnessed colleagues being mistreated, we have an incomplete understanding of how employees perceive and respond to such events. In previous research scholars established that observer emotions can be congruent with victim emotions, but we examine observer schadenfreude, an incongruent emotion that is also prevalent in organizations. Based on appraisal theories of emotion, we propose a process model of schadenfreude emergence and development: initial schadenfreude occurs when observers appraise mistreatment incidents as relevant and conducive to their goals; this initial feeling evolves into either righteous or ambivalent schadenfreude, depending on observers’ secondary appraisals of victim deservingness. We also address the implications of schadenfreude for observer behavior and the moderating effects of observers’ moral foundations and organizational civility climate. Our model extends current knowledge about observer reactions and helps us understand the persistence and pervasiveness of workplace mistreatment.