Organizations—especially small businesses—are vulnerable to social and economic upheaval. When misfortune befalls organizations, how much do we empathize with them? Here we present a framework for understanding the causes, mechanisms, and consequences of empathy for organizations. One key cause of empathy is framing: Although any organization is comprised of its constituent members, six studies find that the members frame (“members comprising an organization”) evokes more empathy than the organization frame (“an organization comprised of its members”). The effect of framing on empathy is mediated through anthropomorphism—how humanlike an organization seems. Studies also reveal moral consequences of framing. Increased empathy towards an organization translates to increased perceptions that its suffering is unfair, and to increased helping behavior to address that suffering. Theoretically, these results provide a multi-stage model of empathy for organizations. Practically, these results reveal how struggling organizations can increase empathy for their plight.

组织（尤其是小型企业）容易受到社会和经济动荡的影响。当不幸降临到组织时，我们对他们有多少同情？在这里，我们提供了一个框架，用于理解组织的共情的原因，机制和后果。造成同情的一个主要原因是：尽管任何组织都由其组成成员组成，但六项研究发现，成员框架（“组成组织的成员”）比组织框架（“由成员组成的组织”）唤起更多的同理心。 。框架对共情的影响是通过拟人化来实现的，即拟人化的组织。研究还揭示了构架的道德后果。对组织的同情心增加，意味着人们对组织的苦难是不公平的，并增加帮助行为以解决这种痛苦。从理论上讲，这些结果为组织提供了一个多阶段的共情模型。实际上，这些结果揭示了苦苦挣扎的组织如何能够增加同情他们的困境的能力。