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The Performer's Reactions to Procedural Injustice: When Prosocial Identity Reduces Prosocial Behavior 1
Author(s) -
Grant Adam M.,
Molinsky Andrew,
Margolis Joshua,
Kamin Melissa,
Schiano William
Publication year - 2009
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.1559-1816.2008.00440.x
Subject(s) - prosocial behavior , psychology , injustice , social psychology , identity (music) , helping behavior , cognitive dissonance , economic justice , affect (linguistics) , procedural justice , developmental psychology , communication , perception , physics , neoclassical economics , acoustics , economics , neuroscience
Considerable research has examined how procedural injustice affects victims and witnesses of unfavorable outcomes, with little attention to the “performers” who deliver these outcomes. Drawing on dissonance theory, we hypothesized that performers' reactions to procedural injustice in delivering unfavorable outcomes are moderated by prosocial identity—a helping‐focused self‐concept. Across 2 experiments, individuals communicated unfavorable outcomes decided by a superior. Consistent with justice research, when prosocial identities were not primed, performers experienced greater negative affect and behaved more prosocially toward victims when a superior's decision‐making procedures were unjust. Subtly activating performers' prosocial identities reversed these reactions. Results highlight how roles and identities shape the experience and delivery of unfavorable outcomes: When procedures are unjust, prosocial identity can reduce prosocial behavior.