Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

How Self-Relevant is Fair Treatment? Social Self-Esteem Moderates Interactional Justice Effects

  • Published:
Social Justice Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An organizational field study examined the extent to which fair treatment influences organizational commitment was a function of employees’ levels of social self-esteem. Following recent research indicating that self-esteem acts as a moderator of procedural fairness effects, we suggested that to examine the relational assumption that self and procedures are related, one should assess the social dimension of self-esteem. In line with predictions, the results indeed showed that fair treatment (assessed by an interactional justice scale) positively influences affective commitment, but only when employees have low social self-esteem. These findings are discussed in light of research on relational models of justice and sociometer theory.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amnesty International (1992). Au delà de l’Etat. Le droit international et la défense des Droits de l’Homme, Amnesty International, Paris.

  • Bechlivanou, G., Delmas-Marty, M., Doise, W., Duchesne, S., Gonzalez, L., and Lenoir, R. (1990). Discours juridique et discours ordinaire. La perception des droits de l’homme dans la société contemporaine. Archives de Politique Criminelle 12: 145–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billig, M. (1989). Ideological Dilemmas: A Social Psychology of Everyday Dilemmas, Sage, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clémence, A., and Doise, W. (1995). La représentation sociale de la justice: Une approche des droits dans la pensée ordinaire. L’Année Sociologique 45: 371–400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clémence, A., Egloff, M., Gardiol, N., and Gobet, P. (1994). Solidarités Sociales en Suisse, Réalités sociales, Lausanne.

  • Crandall, C. S., and Beasley, R. K. (2001). A perceptual theory of legitimacy. Politics, prejudice, social institutions, and moral value. In Jost, J. T., and Major, B. (eds.), The Psychology of Legitimacy. Emerging Perspectives on Ideology, Justice, and Intergroup Relations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 77–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darley, J. (2002). Just punishments: Research on retributional justice. In Ross, M., and Miller, D. T. (eds.), The Justice Motive in Everyday Life, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 314–333.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doise, W. (2002). Human Rights as Social representations, Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emler, N. (2003). Morality and political orientations: An analysis of their relationship. In Stroebe, W., and Hewstone, M. (eds.), European Review of Social Psychology, Vol. 13, Chichester, Wiley, U.K., pp. 259–291.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feather, N. T. (1999). Values, Achievement, and Justice: Studies in the Psychology of Deservingness, Kluwer Academic, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feather, N. T. (2003). Distinguishing between deservingness and entitlement: Earned outcomes versus lawful outcomes, Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 33: 367–385.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilens, M. (1999). Why Americans Hate Welfare: Race, Media and the Politics of Antipoverty Policy, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwald, A. G. (1980). The totalitarian ego: Fabrication and revision of personal history. Am. Psychol. 35: 603–618.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hafer, C. (2002). Why we reject innocent victims. In Ross, M., and Miller, D. T. (eds.), The justice motive in everyday life, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 109–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jost, J. T., and Banaji, M. R. (1994). The role of stereotyping in system-justification and the production of false consciousness. Br. J. Soc. Psychol. 33: 1–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, M. J. (1977). The justice motive: Some hypotheses as to its origins and its forms. J. Pers. 45: 1–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, M. J., and Goldberg, J. H. (1999). When do decent people blame victims: The differing effects of the explicit-rational and implicit-experiential cognitive systems. In Chaiken, S., and Trope, Y. (eds.), Dual process theories in social psychology, Guilford, New York, pp. 627–640.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. T. (2001). Disrespect and the experience of injustice, Ann. Rev. Psychol. 52: 527–553.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moghaddam, F. M., and Vuksanovic, V. (1990). Attitudes and behavior toward human rights across different contexts: The role of right-wing authoritarianism, political ideology, and religiosity. Int. J. Psychol. 25: 455–474.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mussweiler, T., and Strack, F. (1999). Comparing is believing: A selective accessibility model of judgmental anchoring. In Stroebe, W., and Hewstone, M. (eds.), European Review of Social Psychology, Vol. 10, Chichester, Wiley, U.K., pp. 135–167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, T. E., and Kinder, D. R. (1996). Issue frames and group-centrism in American public opinion. J. Pol., 58: 1055–1078.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nisbett, R. E., and Ross, L. (1980). Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinert, M. (1986). Un logiciel d’analyse lexicale (ALCESTE). Cahiers de l’Analyse des Données 4: 471–484.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sears, D. O. (1993). Symbolic politics: A socio-psychological theory. In Iyengar, S., and McGuire, W. J. (eds.), Explorations in Political Psychology, Durham, Duke University Press, North Carolina, pp. 113–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skitka, L. J. (2002). Do the means always justify the ends or do the ends sometimes justify the means? A value protection model of justice, Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 28: 588–597.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skitka, L. J., and Houston, D. A. (2002). When due process is of no consequence: Moral mandates and presumed defendant guilt or innocence. Soc. Justice Res. 14: 305–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staerklé, C., Roux, P., Delay, C., Gianettoni, L., and Perrin, C. (2003). Consensus and conflict in lay conceptions of citizenship: Why people reject or support maternity policies in Switzerland. Psychologica Belgica (Special issue: Social Identity and Citizenship) 32: 9–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van den Bos, K. (2003). On the subjective quality of social justice: The role of affect as information in the psychology of justice judgments. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 85: 482–498.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van den Bos, K., and Lind, E. A. (2002). Uncertainty management by means of fairness judgments. In Zanna, M. P. (ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 34, San Diego, Academic Press, California, pp. 1–60.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David De Cremer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

De Cremer, D., van Knippenberg, D., van Dijke, M. et al. How Self-Relevant is Fair Treatment? Social Self-Esteem Moderates Interactional Justice Effects. Soc Just Res 17, 407–419 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-004-2059-x

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-004-2059-x

Navigation