Fairness as Social Responsibility: A Moral Self‐regulation Account of Procedural Justice Enactment

Abstract

Three studies examined the relationship between moral identity and procedural justice enactment and explored the moderating role of regulatory focus in this relationship. In Study 1, an experimental scenario study, leaders with a strong moral identity were more likely to enact decisions accurately in an employee performance evaluation procedure. This effect emerged in the prevention focus condition, but was absent in the promotion focus condition. In Study 2, an organizational field survey, organizational supervisors' moral identity related to self‐reported voice granting, and this effect was pronounced among those with strong (as opposed to weak) dispositional prevention focus. In Study 3, another field study, organizational supervisors' moral identity related to co‐worker ratings of voice granting and this effect was again pronounced among supervisors with strong (as opposed to weak) prevention focus. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of a moral self‐regulation account of justice enactment.