INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL COMPARISONS ON PERCEPTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL FAIRNESS

Current research on the fairness of organizational procedures is extended by considering the role of social comparisons in the evaluation of fairness. Both the subject's and a referent's control over task choice (high or low control) and the outcome of the task (favorable or unfavorable) were varied. Contrary to expectations, results showed that evaluations of the procedure and outcome were influenced primarily by the subject's outcome. Referent outcomes also influenced perceptions of procedural fairness, but no support was found for the hypothesis that subjects' process control would interact with the referent's process control to influence subjects' ratings of procedural and outcome satisfaction and fairness. Results suggest that Ss draw different inferences from a social, rather than a self, referent. The informational role of outcomes for procedural judgments is emphasized.