The Effect of Stability and Presentation Order of Rewards

• In Event: 243 - Regular Session. Microsociologies: Values and Evaluations in Social Interaction

Abstract

This research shows the effect of history of rewards on justice evaluations. Previous research on justice theory investigated the effect of reward level on justice evaluations. However, few researchers investigated justice process in time dimension. In this research, I hypothesize that stability of rewards and presentation order of under-reward and over-reward through time dimension affect justice evaluations. The results from a controlled laboratory experiment show that stability of rewards is positively related to justice evaluations. The results also reveal that the effect of unstable rewards on justice evaluations is stronger when they appear in earlier stage of reward schedule than it appears later, which supports primacy effect hypothesis of unstable rewards.

Author

• Hyomin Park, Sungkyunkwan University