Victims’ and Observers’ Reactions to Organizational Unfairness: The Role of Moral-Altruist Personality

Abstract

Researchers are divided on the role of self-relevance in reactions to organizational unfairness: whether workers react similarly when the unfairness is directed at themselves or at others. We claim that the importance of self-relevance depends on moral-altruist personality (Honesty-Humility). In a vignette study, sensitivity to unfairness was weaker when the targets were coworkers rather than the participants, but only among those with low Honesty-Humility. In a field study, Honesty-Humility was associated with greater sensitivity to organizational fairness towards all workers but not to one's own treatment by the authority. Thus, morality-altruism mitigates the impact of self-relevance on attitudes following unfairness.