Title

The importance of contextual variables when judging fairness: An examination of counterfactual thoughts and fairness theory

Authors

Authors

J. M. Nicklin; R. Greenbaum; L. A. McNall; R. Folger;K. J. Williams

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process.

Keywords

Organizational justice; Fairness perceptions; Counterfactual thinking; ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE RESEARCH; POLICY-CAPTURING APPROACH; RELATIVE; IMPORTANCE; RESPONSIBILITY; JUDGMENTS; THINKING; SATISFACTION; PERFORMANCE; PSYCHOLOGY; DECISIONS; Psychology, Applied; Management; Psychology, Social

Abstract

This research empirically examines the underlying mechanisms of fairness theory (Folger & Cropanzano, 1998, 2001), namely counterfactual thought processes. Study 1 used a policy-capturing design to examine the relative importance of contextual variables in predicting counterfactual thoughts and fairness perceptions. Study 2 utilized a between-subjects design and asked participants to generate their own. counterfactuals in response to an unfortunate event. Results of both studies showed that fairness perceptions are influenced by contextual variables (i.e., outcome severity, target knowledge and expertise, sin of commission vs. omission) and counterfactual thinking. Counterfactual thoughts partially mediated the effects of contextual variables and fairness perceptions in Study 1. Exploratory analyses from Study 3 revealed that the measurement of counterfactual thoughts (frequency vs. strength) may capture different underlying constructs. Implications are discussed. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

Volume

114

Issue/Number

2

Publication Date

1-1-2011

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

127

Last Page

141

WOS Identifier

WOS:000287470700005

ISSN

0749-5978

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