Stability of Norm and Justice Perception


Version:1 / 1    Updated Date:11/14/2014    Original Contributor:hyominp    Latest Contributor:hyominp
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Key Words
Justice, Norm, Cooperation

Background / Metatheory:

Justice theory explains that an actor in an investment-reward context will produce a justice perception of a group based on his/her reward. Previous research on justice also showed that the impact of under reward is larger than the impact of over reward in producing justice perception. Therefore, it can be predicted that a series of unjust rewards has its own effect on justice perception. However, little research dealt with justice perception in a sequential process. In everyday life, an actor usually interacts with a reward system continuously rather than a single time. Thus it is necessary to examine the effect of reward system in a time dimension.


Terms & Definitions:
  • primacy_effect - initial justice perception remains stable over time despite new information
  • reward - socially valued goods or burden
  • reward_system - a pattern by which valued goods or burden is allocated
  • (in)justice_perception - the extent to which an actor believes a reward accords with a normatively expected reward level
  • asymmetric_justice_perception - the tendency that under reward has a larger effect than comparable over reward in producing justice perception
  • incongruence - disagreement between the reward-to-investment linkages
  • stability - extent to which a reward system is consistent throughout time dimension
  • negative_incongruence - an incongruence in which an actor's or group's reward is of less (greater) positive value than that reward level specified in a referential structure or rule

Scope Conditions:
  1. An actor belongs to a group.
  2. An actor continuously interacts with a reward system.
  3. Value of the reward can be evaluated by an actor directly.
Propositions:
  1. The lower the stability of a reward system the larger the injustice perception (asymmetry of justice perception).
  2. If negative incongruence presents first, the impact of the negative incongruence lingers longer than the impact of positive incongruence when the positive incongruence presents first (primacy effect).
  3. The larger the incongruence of a reward, the larger the perceived injustice of the reward.
  4. The more severe the under reward, the larger the perceived injustice of the reward.
  5. The more severe the incongruence, either positive or negative, net effect of the incongruence on injustice perception is attenuated
  6. The stronger the perceived injustice of a reward system, the less likely the member of the group will cooperate