Fairness lies in the heart of the beholder: How the social emotions of third parties influence reactions to injustice

Steven L Blader (), Batia M Wiesenfeld (), Marion Fortin () and Sara L Wheeler-Smith ()
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Marion Fortin: RH - CRM - Centre de Recherche en Management - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - IAE - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: The present research explores third parties' (e.g., jurors, ombudsmen, auditors, and employees observing others' encounters) ability to objectively judge fairness. More specifically, the current research suggests that third parties' justice judgments and reactions are biased by their attitudes toward the decision recipient and, in particular, the affective aspect of those attitudes as characterized by their felt social emotions. We explore how the congruence of a social emotion (i.e., the extent to which the emotion reflects feeling a subjective sense of alignment with the target of the emotion) can influence their evaluations of recipients' decision outcomes. The five studies presented show that congruence can lead third parties to react positively to objectively unfair decision outcomes and, importantly, that the influence of social emotions on subjective justice judgments drive third party reactions to decisions, decision makers, and even national policies

Keywords: "Third parties"; " Injustice"; " Fairness"; "Justicejudgments"; Social emotions"; Third parties; Injustice; Fairness; Justicejudgments; Social emotions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2013, 121 (1), pp.62-80. ⟨10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.12.004⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00862149

DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2012.12.004

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