Core idea
Drawing on Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, Adams argued that people compare the ratio of their outcomes (pay, promotion, recognition) to their inputs (education, experience, effort) with that of a referent such as a colleague. Equal ratios feel fair; unequal ratios create inequity.
Responses to inequity
Under-reward produces anger and over-reward guilt, and people act to reduce the tension by:
- changing their inputs (working less)
- changing their outcomes (asking for a raise)
- distorting perceptions of themselves
- distorting perceptions of the referent
- choosing a different referent
- leaving the situation
Development and implications
The theory launched research on distributive justice and grew into organisational justice, adding procedural and interactional fairness. Organisations should explain reward criteria and use fair appraisal procedures. Evidence for over-reward reactions is weak, and people differ in equity sensitivity.
References
- Adams, J. S. (1963). Towards an understanding of inequity. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(5), 422-436.
- Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 2, 267-299.
- Colquitt, J. A., et al. (2001). Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 425-445.