In this paper, we build on deontic justice theory by examining third-party forgiveness as a downstream deontic response to organizational justice repair. Across two studies (N = 690), we find that when organizations punish transgressors, third parties are more likely to forgive the transgressor and are more likely to want to interact with the transgressor. We find that this effect is driven by a decrease in perceptions of injustice and a decrease in beliefs about future harm to oneself and others. This work has implications for our understanding of third parties’ reactions to organizational justice repair and workplace conflict more broadly.
