Exploring how received gratitude and apologies meet a benefactor’s psychological needs of face and competence

Abstract

In Japan, when a beneficiary receives benefits from a benefactor, it is not unusual for the beneficiary to use apologies to express gratitude. However, literature has not fully investigated how received gratitude and apologies impact Japanese benefactors’ perceptions. This experimental study examined how received gratitude and apologies influenced 671 Japanese participants’ (benefactors) negative and positive face as well as their self-efficacy. The results showed that the participants who received a message with gratitude or both gratitude and apologies perceived that their negative and positive face were less threatened than those in a control condition. Contrary to literature, those who received gratitude did not have high levels of self-efficacy. However, their self-efficacy was high after they received apologies only when they put more effort into helping a beneficiary. This study revealed unique roles of gratitude and apologies in meeting various psychological needs of Japanese.