The Role of Psychological Distance in the Formation of Fairness Judgments

The present study examined how communication format, specifically computer‐mediated communication vs. face‐to‐face communication, affected distributive and procedural fairness judgments. Specifically, it was expected that procedural information would have a stronger influence on fairness judgments in face‐to‐face communication than in computer‐mediated communication. This hypothesis was not, however, supported by a significant Mode of Communication × Procedure interaction. We also hypothesized that face‐to‐face communication, compared with computer‐mediated communication, would increase the impact of the distributive information on fairness judgments. As predicted, this hypothesis was supported by a significant Mode of Communication × Outcome interaction. The processes potentially mediating these differences, including psychological distance and evaluation apprehension, are discussed.