A research team led by Professor OHTSUBO Yohsuke of Kobe University's Graduate School of Humanities has been investigating how group apologies are perceived. Their results revealed that apologies that are costly for the apologizing organization are deemed to be more genuine. This was similar to previous findings by Professor Ohtsubo et al. when they looked into apologies from individuals, such as friends or colleagues.
This study was conducted through a cross-institutional research collaboration with members from Aichi Medical University (Lecturer MATSUNAGA Masahiro and the Department of Health and Psychosocial Medicine research team), Kochi University of Technology (Lecturer HIMICHI Toshiyuki) and Nagoya University (Professor OHIRA Hideki).
It is hoped that the understanding illuminated by this research may help groups make more effective apologies, particularly in crisis communication and international peacemaking.
