"Participants responded to three workplace dilemmas we developed (see Appendix). The firing dilemma described a situation where firing a good and loyal employee would save jobs for a whole team. The parking dilemma involved denying a single mom special access to a needed parking pass to prevent erosion of a consistent and fair performance-based parking rule applying to all employees. The angry client dilemma entailed unfairly blaming performance problems on a junior employee to keep a lucrative contract with a volatile client. Thus, each dilemma pitted the well-being of one person against the overall outcomes for a whole team or organization."

Figure 1. Target Warmth and Competence Ratings When Targets Rejected or Accepted Causing Sacrificial Harm in Conventional or Workplace Sacrificial Dilemmas, Study 1.

Figure 2. Target Warmth and Competence Ratings When High- and Low-Authority Role Targets Rejected or Accepted Sacrificial Harm, Study 2.

Figure 6a. Target Warmth and Competence Depending on Dilemma Decision and Explanation, Study 5.