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Performance‐based pay is fair, particularly when I perform better: differential fairness perceptions of allocators and recipients
Author(s) -
van Yperen Nico W.,
van den Bos Kees,
de Graaff Donatien C.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.273
Subject(s) - allocator , psychology , attribution , social psychology , perception , differential (mechanical device) , test (biology) , neuroscience , computer science , operating system , paleontology , engineering , biology , aerospace engineering
We examined in two experiments the impact of the roles that people enact (allocator or recipient) and performance attributions (talent or effort) on fairness perceptions of pay systems (performance‐based pay or job‐based pay). To test the relative effects of the roles that people enact, in the control conditions, participants were asked to evaluate the fairness of both allocation norms from ‘behind a veil of ignorance’ (Rawls, 1971). As hypothesized, the results consistently demonstrate that whereas recipients were biased in their fairness perceptions, allocators tended to be non‐biased in their fairness perceptions. The self‐interest bias among recipients was particularly strong when talent rather than effort attributions were imposed on them. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.