Premium
Does Outcome Favorability Affect Procedural Fairness as a Result of Self‐Serving Attributions?
Author(s) -
FrancisGladney Laura,
Magner Nace R.,
Welker Robert B.
Publication year - 2010
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.1559-1816.2009.00569.x
Subject(s) - attribution , resentment , psychology , outcome (game theory) , social psychology , affect (linguistics) , mathematical economics , communication , politics , political science , law , mathematics
In a situation indicating possible pseudo‐participation, we examined whether outcome favorability affects perceived procedural fairness and resentment as a result of self‐serving attributions for outcomes. Laboratory participants received a production target that was either substantially above (i.e., unfavorable outcome) or substantially below (i.e., favorable outcome) a target they had voiced to a supervisor. As hypothesized, outcome favorability was related to procedural fairness (positively) and resentment (negatively) among participants who lacked persuasive evidence of pseudo‐participation. In support of the idea that these effects were a result of self‐serving attributions, rather than instrumental concerns, they did not emerge among participants who had persuasive evidence of pseudo‐participation.