To Forgive or Not to Forgive: A Comparative and Correlational Study of Dispositional Forgiveness in the Nonprofit and For-Profit Sectors
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Authors
Fleck, Theresa
Issue Date
2023
Volume
Issue
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Dispositional Forgiveness , Heartland Forgiveness Scale , Workplace Conflict Resolution
Alternative Title
Abstract
Forgiveness is a concept praised in many major religions and treasured in cultures worldwide as a foundational ethical tenet. Research demonstrates that the act of forgiving reduces conflict and provides physical and mental health benefits to both the victim and transgressor. This dissertation fills a gap in academic research by investigating workforce forgiveness by business sector. Using the Heartland Forgiveness Scale, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between employee dispositional forgiveness (including the subscales of forgiveness of self, forgiveness of other, and forgiveness of situation) and employment sector (nonprofit and for-profit) of professionals living in the St. Louis, Missouri region. Study results indicate that employees in nonprofit and for-profit environments living or working in the St. Louis area report statistically similar results in all forgiveness categories. Results also indicate a correlation between for-profit forgiveness and organizational size, as for-profit organizations with smaller budgets have a higher rate of total forgiveness than their larger counterparts, and smaller for-profit organizations, measured by both population and budget, have a higher rate of forgiveness of situation. As a result, the author has suggested the use of the REACH Forgiveness Model and associated training materials as a tool to increase rates of dispositional forgiveness in both nonprofit and for-profit sectors, with specific attention to larger for-profit organizations that scored lower on the forgiveness scale than their smaller for-profit counterparts.
Description
2023
Citation
Publisher
Creighton University
License
Copyright is retained by the Author.
A non-exclusive distribution right is granted to Creighton University and to ProQuest following the publishing model selected above.