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Blocking or Bridging? Restorative Responses to Online and Offline Harm

Leferink, Tom (2025) Blocking or Bridging? Restorative Responses to Online and Offline Harm.

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Abstract:Victim-Offender Mediation (VOM) is increasingly applied to deal with the aftermath of a crime. At the same time, prevalence of cybercrime is on the rise, leading to a changing victimization landscape. Despite these two developments, the literature on victim‘s willingness to participate in VOM lacks depth, in that research into cybercrime victims‘ willingness to participate in VOM is scarce. For this study, it was hypothesized that victims of a cyber-threat would be less willing to participate in VOM than victims of an offline threat. It was further proposed that this relationship was mediated by fear towards the offender, perceived seriousness, and/or self-blame. Participants were asked to imagine themselves as victims of either a cyber-threat or an offline-threat, before measuring the proposed mediator variables as well as willingness to participate in VOM. Although willingness to participate in VOM did not significantly differ between the two conditions, it was relatively high overall in our sample. The proposed mediation pathways were not supported by the data. Qualitative data revealed nuanced motivations to participate or not participate between the cyber- and offline conditions. Limitations, practical implications and future research directions are considered.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/106306
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