The Pleasure in Seeing Others in Pain: Schadenfreude in Response to Workplace Mistreatment

Extant research on third parties’ reactions to colleagues’ interpersonal workplace mistreatment has assumed that third parties are angry with the perpetrators and compassionate toward the victims. The possibility that third parties may feel pleasure at the victims’ experience of workplace mistreatment has been overlooked. In this paper, we develop a model explaining when third parties of workplace mistreatment feel schadenfreude and what behaviors third parties engage in as a consequence of this feeling. Drawing on theories of social comparison and justice, we identify circumstances in which third parties’ schadenfreude rises. Further, building on emotion theories, we elucidate third parties’ behavioral reactions following schadenfreude. Theoretical and practical implications of the proposed model and directions for future research are discussed.