Observers’ Moral Elevation and Helping Behavior Following a Leader's Mistreatment of a Coworker

While previous studies have argued that observers of mistreatment by a leader are driven by negative moral emotions (i.e., moral outrage) to help the victimized coworker but harm the perpetrating leader, we argue that positive moral emotions (i.e., moral elevation) can motivate observers to help the victim and the perpetrator. A retrospective critical incident survey study and an experimental vignette study provide support for our theory that, in addition to previously found relationships, observers of mistreatment by a leader experience moral elevation (i.e., an admiration for virtue) when their victimized coworker stands up for themselves and opposes the perpetrating leader. Moral elevation, in turn, promotes benevolent behavior and increases observers’ perpetrator- and victim-directed helping. Together, our studies unveil victimized coworkers as a potential source of moral elevation for observers and highlight when observers of mistreatment by a leader may be motivated to act benevolently towards both victims and perpetrators of workplace mistreatment.