The Reduction of Multiple Inequities Through Task Revaluation
Stepina, Lee Philip
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/68394
Description
Title
The Reduction of Multiple Inequities Through Task Revaluation
Author(s)
Stepina, Lee Philip
Issue Date
1981
Department of Study
Labor and Industrial Relations
Discipline
Labor and Industrial Relations
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Psychology, Industrial
Language
eng
Abstract
Equity theory researchers have traditionally focused on behavioral methods of equity restoration with mixed results. The purpose of the present research was to focus on the psychological outcomes of inequity as they influence the individual's affective reactions. In order to examine the generality of these effects and to further the study of equity theory, a relatively new type of equity problem was developed: job complexity inequity. Finally, in an exploratory section, the question of the occurrence of and interaction of multiple inequities was considered and some possible interaction theories were suggested. Specifically, it was argued that individuals would prefer less costly psychological task distortion (either enhancement or derogation) to more costly effort-performance modification for both pay and job inequity.
The above hypothesis was tested in the laboratory with 100 male subjects. Each subject was told that a fictitious comparison was getting paid more or less for and performing a job more or less complex than the subject's. Four groups of 20 subjects each were thus formed. A fifth group was told that they were getting paid the same as others for doing the same work. This group served as a control group.
The pay inequity results supported the hypothesis that subjects would enhance their perception of their jobs to compensate for underpay. Overpaid subjects did not derogate their tasks to compensate for inequity as predicted. Subjects having a job inequitably less complex than their co-workers evaluated their task as more complex than controls in order to resolve inequity. Subjects with jobs more complex did not differ significantly from controls. The results further suggested that opposite direction dual inequities (overpay, under complex job, for example) resolved each other, although overall the results were mixed.
Overall, the results indicate that research emphasis on performance modification has been overemphasized. Instead, this study suggests that subjects distort subjective elements of their job in order to resolve inequity.
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