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

    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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