Victims of the Itaewon crowd crush died twice: The role of justice beliefs (general vs. personal) and fatalism in predicting victim‐blaming

Abstract The current study analyzes how the two facets of justice beliefs (GBJW and PBJW) relate to victim‐blaming in a recent man‐made disaster that occurred during the Halloween Festival in Seoul, South Korea. We also explore the psychological mechanism that underlies the link between justice beliefs and victim‐blaming by analyzing the mediating role of fatalism. We conducted a two‐wave survey over the first 10 days of the disaster ( N = 185 and 154 for Time 1 and Time 2, respectively). We found that the GBJW positively predicted victim‐blaming at both Time 1 and Time 2, and this relationship was mediated by fatalistic cognitions about life. By contrast, the PBJW was not related to victim‐blaming across the two measurement points. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings and directions for future research on the link between justice beliefs and victim‐blaming.