Expanding our Understanding of Third-Party Perceptions of Victims in the Workplace

Abstract: Third parties, or people who learn about or observe others’ mistreatment at work without being directly involved, play a crucial role in victims’ future workplace outcomes following the initial mistreatment. However, the intricacies of the relationship between victims and third parties are under-addressed in the current literature, and we believe scholars have merely scratched the surface of understanding how third-party responses affect victims of workplace misconduct or mistreatment. In this symposium, we present five papers that share novel findings related to how third parties respond in the aftermath of workplace mistreatment. We also highlight opportunities to continue to expand our understanding of complex interpersonal processes that occur in organizations between third parties, victims, perpetrators, and other organizational stakeholders following mistreatment.

Keywords: Justice, fairness, mistreatment, sexual harassment, victimization, interpersonal processes