Effects of receiving and observing dysfunctional help at work

Abstract

Helping behaviors at work are often seen as beneficial and effective for both employees and organizations. In this study, I examine when a helping experience at work could be dysfunctional in terms of its utility and incivility. In doing so, I integrate exchange-based justice and affect-based justice as theoretical frameworks. First, I focus on help recipients’ experiences in receiving help by examining two parallel processes—a cognitive process involves distributive justice and interpersonal justice perceptions, and an affective process with affective responses. Second, I propose that observers form their justice perceptions and affective responses separately when observing the interacting dyad. Finally, I expect that observers may develop either positive or negative reactions toward help recipients depending on their exclusion beliefs. In summary, I propose when help can be dysfunctional, and that this dysfunction will operate through justice perceptions and affective responses for both help recipients and observers. To test the proposed relationships, I gathered data to test the hypotheses in a lab experiment.