First, the study participants were asked to recall and imagine a work-related situation in which their boss treated them unfairly. Then they were given a simple written exercise to complete. Some of them were allowed to use an online program enabling them to create voodoo dolls, name them after their bosses, and then stick pins into them, burn them with candles or pinch them using pliers. It turned out those who could use a voodoo doll felt significantly less bitter and coped better with the assigned task.
"These findings suggest that retaliation not only benefits individual victims, but may also benefit the organization as a whole, given that justice perceptions is important for employee performance and well-being," the study authors were quoted by Telegraph.co.uk.
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Article source Telegraph.co.uk - common website of the British newspapers The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph