He said, She said: An Analysis of Apology Efficacy by Gender

The quest for an understanding of the effectiveness of apologies in trust repair efforts has identified six characteristics that should be included in all apologies: an expression of regret, an explanation, an acknowledgement of responsibility, a declaration of repentance, an offer of repair, and a request for forgiveness. Building from this foundation, this paper aims to understand whether the importance of these six components changes if a male or female is apologizing. Results are presented that demonstrate that apologies are more effective when men and women apologize in a way that goes against expectations of their gender. Specifically, apologies offered by females are more effective with three components that activate perceptions of competence, while apologies offered by males are more effective with six components that activate perceptions of warmth.