Understanding perpetrator reactions to bystander intervention in interpersonal workplace aggression

In recent years, organizations, policy makers, and researchers have started to promote bystander intervention as an important tool for combating the problem of interpersonal workplace aggression. How effective these interventions are, however, remains largely unknown, as research on what happens after a bystander intervenes and how perpetrators react to such intervention is virtually non-existent. Understanding perpetrator reactions is critical because these reactions may shape the ultimate outcome of bystander intervention effectiveness. Accordingly, we present a theoretical model that delineates perpetrators’ reactions to bystander intervention in incidents of interpersonal workplace aggression. Building on theories of identity, we theorize the perpetrator’s sensemaking process and its contingencies that shape their diverse reactions to the bystander and the target. This paper has vital implications both for researchers trying to understand bystander–perpetrator interpersonal dynamics and for practitioners aiming to develop safe and effective bystander intervention strategies.