When Leader’s Forgiveness Backfires: Consequences on Trust and a Potential Mitigation Strategy

When leaders forgive, does it influence follower trust? This study examines whether forgiveness creates an integrity-benevolence dilemma for leaders, potentially reducing follower trust. Across three studies (N = 1,235), findings reveal that forgiveness has a dual impact: it decreases integrity-based trust while enhancing benevolence-based trust. These findings were consistent across studies with controlled scenarios depicting typical organizational misconduct and a behavioral experiment with real stakes. Moreover, the negative impact of forgiveness on integrity-based trust was more pronounced in cases involving moral transgressions rather than competence, and when the consequences of the misconduct were severe (Study 1). However, when leaders explicitly articulated the moral principles behind their forgiveness, the negative effect on integrity was mitigated (Studies 2 and 3). These findings offer theoretical insights into leader forgiveness and trust as well as practical guidance for leaders to manage the forgiveness dilemma effectively.