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Perceived Legitimacy of a Promotion Decision in Relation to Deservingness, Entitlement, and Resentment in the Context of Affirmative Action and Performance 1
Author(s) -
Feather N. T.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00346.x
Subject(s) - resentment , entitlement (fair division) , legitimacy , social psychology , psychology , context (archaeology) , action (physics) , promotion (chess) , political science , economics , law , microeconomics , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , politics , biology
This study tests a model relating perceived legitimacy of a promotion committee's decision to the deservingness and entitlement of a male or female candidate for promotion and to resentment about the decision. University students responded to scenarios in which deservingness was manipulated by information about the quality of the candidate's performance; entitlement was manipulated by information about an affirmative‐action policy. Results showed strong positive effects of perceived deservingness on perceived legitimacy, which were partially mediated by resentment. Perceived entitlement was also a positive predictor of perceived legitimacy. Gender bias occurred, especially in regard to resentment and when the male candidate was promoted. The study extends deservingness theory to a new area and provides evidence for the distinction between deservingness and entitlement.