THE INTERACTIVE EFFECT OF OUTCOME FAVORABILITY AND PROCEDURAL JUSTICEIN WORK RESOURCE-ALLOCATION ON WORK PERFORMANCE

Prior research has indicated that people have particularly negative re actions to a situation where they receive an unfavorable distribution of resources that was established by means of an unfair allocation pro cedure. Studies that have examined this interaction between resource a llocation outcomes and procedures with respect to its effect on indivi dual work performance have produced equivocal results, however. The pr esent study extends this work by testing the proposed interactive effe ct on performance in a work resource allocation context. As hypothesiz ed, laboratory subjects had particularly low task performance when bot h of the following conditions were present: (a) They received an unfav orable distribution of a helpful work resource, and (b) the work resou rce was allocated through an unfair procedure. The results are discuss ed in the context of 5 alternative theoretical frameworks that have be en proposed to explain the focal interaction.