Procedural Unfairness Research Articles

Associations among Procedural Fairness, Tax Compliance, and Tax Re-audits

This study investigates the determinants of the likelihood of a tax re-audit in Korea. It adopts a researcher-administered questionnaire survey method for data collection. The survey questionnaire is randomly distributed to 1,120 individuals with tax-related knowledge and experience. Using a final sample of 342 responses, we conduct a cross-sectional regression analysis to test our hypotheses. The results show that the level of tax non-compliance significantly affects the likelihood of a tax re-audit. This finding suggests that the increase in re-audits in Korea is attributable to the tendency of the tax authority to conduct a re-audit to detect taxpayers' non-compliance behavior by excessively broadening the scope of re-audits. This study also finds that the level of tax non-compliance is influenced by the perception of procedural unfairness, measured by operational inconsistency and regulatory lack of clarity. Lastly, the results reveal that the level of tax non-compliance mediates the relationship between the perception of procedural unfairness and likelihood of a tax re-audit. This finding indicates that enhancing procedural fairness could fundamentally reduce unnecessary re-audits that infringe on the rights of taxpayers, as the likelihood of a tax re-audit is not solely determined by the level of tax non-compliance but also by perceived procedural fairness.

The vicious cycle of unfairness and conflict in teams

PurposeTeams often cannot fulfill their managers’ expectations due to unfairness issues and dysfunctional conflicts with teammates. This paper aims to create a fair team environment, it is important to analyze the interrelationship between unfairness and conflict. However, only a few studies have done this and reported inconsistent results. Using negative reciprocity research as a theoretical foundation, this paper analyzes the interconnection between unfairness and conflict dimensions in the team context. This paper further integrates conflict management research to show employees and managers how to handle unfairness and conflict in teams.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a longitudinal survey study (three points in time) with 237 employees from different German organizations.FindingsThe results of cross-lagged structural equation modeling provide some evidence that interpersonal, procedural and informational unfairness predict relationship conflict and process conflict. Several of these effects become non-significant over time. Further, relationship and process conflict have several significant relationships with the unfairness dimensions, while task conflict did not have any significant relationship. The results also suggest that employees can break up the vicious cycle of unfairness and conflict by using a cooperative conflict management approach.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper focuses on members of autonomous, interdependent and existing teams and the interpersonal relationship of a team member with her or his teammates. Future research could analyze leader-member relationships in different team types.Practical implicationsThe application of cooperative conflict management enables employees to break up the vicious cycle of unfairness.Originality/valueThis paper clarifies the interrelationship between unfairness and conflict and shows that a team member can apply a cooperative conflict management style to handle effectively unfairness and conflict.

Not all that glitters is golden: The impact of procedural fairness perceptions on firm evaluations and customer satisfaction with favorable outcomes

Firms often strive to delight their customers and build strong customer-firm relationships by providing favored benefits to their customers. Drawing from the organizational justice literature, we show that even when customers receive favorable outcomes from distributively fair firm actions, considerations of procedural unfairness may adversely affect their firm evaluations. Procedural fairness salience and customers’ perceived relationship with the firm determine the extent to which procedural fairness affects firm-evaluations. Customers in communal relationships, focused on social/relational factors, are more sensitive to procedural fairness, leading to improved (diminished) firm evaluations when the procedure is perceived as fair (unfair). Those in exchange relationships are unaffected by procedural fairness and evaluate the firm based largely on outcome favorability. Firm trustworthiness mediates the impact of procedural fairness on evaluations. Implications of procedural fairness being driven by relational and non-instrumental considerations are discussed.

Trust Toward the Criminal Justice System Among Swedish Roma: A Mixed-Methodology Approach

Minority populations’ trust toward the criminal justice system is understudied in many parts of Europe, including Sweden. This article will contribute to this field by examining the trust in the criminal justice system among the Roma community in Sweden. The aim of the study was to (1) estimate the Roma community’s trust toward the criminal justice system, (2) examine what factors influence the community’s trust toward the criminal justice system, and (3) analyze whether trust toward the authorities influences the Roma community’s willingness to report victimization. The study used a mixed-methodology design in combining survey data ( n = 610) with in-depth interviews ( N = 30). The findings show that the respondents have a low level of trust in the criminal justice system authorities. According to the regression analysis, the strongest predictor of trust was shown to be explained by the respondent’s perception of procedural unfairness. Qualitative findings supported these results while also highlighting cultural effects and historical processes that explain the community’s lack of trust. Finally, trust in the authorities seems to be an important factor that influences crime reporting.

Suspected or protected? Perceptions of procedural justice in ethnic minority youth's descriptions of police relations

ABSTRACT Research has highlighted the harmful effects of targeted police practices and the subsequent low trust in the police among ethnic minorities. However in spite of this research, there still exists a relative lack of knowledge on the day-to-day relations between ethnic minority youth and the police and on the perceptions that ethnic minorities have of procedural justice. Furthermore, comparative and cross-nation research is needed. This study, using data from 121 in-depth interviews, investigates how ethnic minority youth living in Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden describe policing practices. Our findings indicate that descriptions were quite similar in each of the four Nordic countries. While on the one hand, ethnic minority youth felt suspected by the police for no justifiable reason, thereby creating strong feelings of procedural injustice and unfairness, on the other hand, they described encounters, where they felt protected by the police and in general trusted the institution of the police. As such ambiguity has often been neglected, this article highlights the positive perceptions of the police but also argues that targeted police practices can undermine notions of procedural justice, trust in policing and a sense of belonging.

Examining Procedural Unfairness and Credibility Findings in the UK Asylum System

Abstract This article addresses a key problem confronted by immigration judges (IJs) in their assessment of the asylum claims of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children – who are often not allowed to speak or participate in their own hearings – namely the manner in which asylum legal procedure is intertwined with an IJ’s decision to refuse the claim on the basis of adverse credibility. This article has three linked aims: to examine research that looks at how IJs decide credibility; to set out an ethnographic approach to better understand IJs’ decision-making; and to argue that asylum tribunals need to adopt appropriate guidelines.

Legislative Enforcement of Contractual Fairness in Malaysian Consumer Contracts


 Consumers faced with contract do not know what 'small print' contains or understand its effect. Exclusion clauses may deprive a consumer of specific rights in which he deserves protection. The Consumer Protection Act 1999 in Malaysia, allows the consumers to identify between procedural unfairness and substantive unfairness. However, the Consumer Protection Act 1999 does not adequately protect the consumer. By applying the content analysis research method, this paper reviews the legislative and judicial intervention on unfair terms in consumer contracts. This article advocates that Malaysia should establish a specific framework on consumer law protection against unfair terms in consumer contracts.
 Keywords: Exclusion clauses; unfair terms; consumer contracts; judicial-legislative intervention
 eISSN 2514-7528 © 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/jabs.v4i13.334

Defense Perspectives on Fairness and Efficiency at the International Criminal Court

Over the last several years, states parties of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have put increasing pressure on the court to become more efficient. Proceedings are seen as unduly slow, and judges have been urged to rein in the parties and expedite the process. The emphasis on efficiency can advance important goals of the ICC. It can help ensure defendants’ right to a speedy trial, promote victims’ interests in closure, and allow the court to process more cases with limited resources. But as the experience of earlier international criminal tribunals shows, an unrelenting pursuit of efficiency could also interfere with other values of the criminal process, such as the protection of individual rights and the search for truth. This book chapter examines how the sharper focus on expediting proceedings at the ICC has affected defense rights and interests. Have judges, in an effort to increase the court’s efficiency, limited defense opportunities to present and examine witnesses, to review disclosure, or to file interlocutory appeals? Have concerns about cost led the court to impose unwarranted restrictions on defense investigations? Have judges urged the defense to disclose its case early on or to settle any aspects of the case with the prosecution? To begin an exploration of these questions, the chapter analyzes the findings of a survey of international criminal defense attorneys about their views of ICC procedures. While survey respondents expressed some concerns about procedural unfairness at the court, they did not believe that judges’ preoccupation with efficiency was the cause of the unfairness. Likewise, while they complained about insufficient financial and institutional support for defense work, respondents tended to place responsibility for these decisions on the Registry and States Parties, not on judges. Perhaps most surprisingly, respondents stated that certain judicial efforts to expedite proceedings—demanding earlier disclosure, filtering out charges more aggressively, and restricting victim participation—could favor defense rights. Defense attorneys could therefore leverage the court’s emphasis on expeditiousness to advocate for greater judicial regulation of prosecutorial activities.

Witch-Hunts and Crime Panics in America

The term witch-hunt has been tossed around by media commentators, policy experts, and even presidents for years — Nixon, Clinton, and Trump each in turn. Accusations of a witch-hunt are used to signal perceived bias, procedural unfairness, and paranoia. This Article argues that drawing simplistic connections between witchcraft trials and unfairness in the criminal justice system severely hampers our understanding of both historical and contemporary events. It obscures the fact that the term witch-hunt is popularly used to describe two very different types of prosecutions that reflect distinct social and legal problems and demand distinct solutions. On the one hand, witch-hunts target individuals based on their beliefs and are exemplified by the two Red Scares of the early and mid-twentieth century and the persecution of the Quakers in seventeenth century Massachusetts Bay. These are fundamentally distinct from crime panics, which target activity that was already classified as criminal but do so in a way that reveals deep procedural deficiencies in the criminal justice system. Crime panics are exemplified by the Salem witchcraft trials and the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s and 1990s. In contrast, the ongoing special investigation by Robert Mueller is neither a witch-hunt nor a crime panic. By bringing ongoing criminal law issues into conversation with legal history scholarship on early American witch-hunts, this article clarifies our understanding of the relationship between politics and large-scale criminal investigations, and highlights areas for future reform.

The Power of Justice

Abstract Complaints about “double standards” in global governance are widespread. When governments from the Global South criticize powerful Western states for applying double standards in implementing norms such as international criminal justice, this is usually taken to indicate that they disagree with the substance of these norms. In contrast, this article argues that the criticism can also be understood as expressing dissatisfaction with the procedures for applying those norms. Based on insights from empirical justice research in social psychology, the article highlights the significance of procedural fairness for the legitimacy of institutions and illustrates the importance of concerns about procedural unfairness in recent complaints about the International Criminal Court (ICC) by African governments.

Perceived Unfairness and Psychological Distress: Less Harmful as Age Increases?

Does perceived unfairness influence psychological well-being differently according to age? We sought to examine the association between perceived unfairness and psychological distress, testing whether and how age moderates the association. Data were drawn from the Korean General Social Survey, a nationally representative cross-sectional sample, collected in 2 years (2011, 2012). The survey measured two types of perceived unfairness: distributive and procedural unfairness. We found that both types of perceived unfairness were positively and independently associated with psychological distress. Our results also showed effect modification by age; in other words, the harmful effects of perceived distributive and procedural unfairness on psychological distress decreased with age, suggesting that younger people were more distressed by perceived unfairness than older people. Our findings suggest that perceived unfairness is harmful to psychological well-being, but its effects become less salient as people age.

Consequences of Unfair Job Promotions in Organizations

We analyze the effect of fair and unfair job promotions on the willingness to cooperate within a group. To investigate how individuals respond to unfair (fair) job promotions, a laboratory experiment was conducted. During the experiment, one of the two persons in each dyad was assigned the role of supervisor and the other one was assigned the role of subordinate. We manipulate two factors: fair and unfair promotion (procedural injustice) as well as the possibility for the subordinate to punish the supervisor. We show that regardless of procedural justice and supported by inequity aversion as well as attribution theory, the willingness to cooperate when supervisors offer low compensation is limited. Paradoxically, supervisors who try to offset their unfair promotion actually benefit from procedural unfairness. We also show that Social Value Orientation (SVO) plays a role in the supervisor’s behavior but does not affect the subordinate’s willingness to cooperate.

The potential exploitation of non-English-speaking players in UK professional football contracts

The article asks whether English professional football clubs have the potential to exploit non-English-speaking players during contract negotiations and signing meetings. We draw on evidence we gathered from a series of semi-structured interviews with football agents, former migrant players, and player liaison/welfare officers who currently work or have previously worked in English professional leagues. We also draw on normative insights from legal, moral, and applied ethical thought to develop a new, bespoke account of what should shock the conscience of the court. We argue that because of language barriers, non-English-speaking players could end up signing unconscionable contracts, if not based on procedural or substantive unfairness, then potentially based on violations of their autonomy through deceptiveness. We also show that the current practice of players’ agents acting as ad hoc translators/interpreters raises serious ethical issues, not least lack of competency and impartiality. Following on from all this, we make a number of practical recommendations about how players’ representatives and clubs should conduct themselves, and what responsibilities they have to provide language support to non-English-speaking players in contract negotiations and signing meetings.

From Individual Control to Social Protection: New Paradigms for Privacy Law in the Age of Predictive Analytics

What comes after the control paradigm? For decades, privacy law has sought to provide individuals with notice and choice and so give them control over their personal data. But what happens when this regulatory paradigm breaks down? Predictive analytics forces us to confront this challenge. Individuals cannot understand how predictive analytics uses their surface data to infer latent, far more sensitive data about them. This prevents individuals from making meaningful choices about whether to share their surface data in the first place. It also creates threats (such as harmful bias, manipulation and procedural unfairness) that go well beyond the privacy interests that the control paradigm seeks to safeguard. In order to protect people in the algorithmic economy, privacy law must shift from a liberalist legal paradigm that focuses on individual control, to one in which public authorities set substantive standards that defend people against algorithmic threats. Leading scholars such as Jack Balkin (information fiduciaries), Helen Nissenbaum (contextual integrity), Danielle Citron (technological due process), Craig Mundie (use-based regulation) and others recognize the need for such a shift and propose ways to achieve it. This article ties these proposals together, views them as attempts to define a new regulatory paradigm for the age of predictive analytics, and evaluates whether each achieves this aim. It then argues that the solution may be hiding in plain sight in the form of the FTC’s Section 5 unfairness authority. It explores whether the FTC could use its unfairness authority to draw substantive lines between data analytics practices that are socially appropriate and fair, and those that are inappropriate and unfair, and examines how the Commission would make such determinations. It argues that this existing authority, which requires no new legislation, provides a comprehensive and politically legitimate way to create much needed societal boundaries around corporate use of predictive analytics. It concludes that the Commission could use its unfairness authority to protect people from the threats that the algorithmic economy creates.

Empowering Malaysian Consumers through Legislation: Does ‘small print’ in contract influence consumer behaviour and affect the quality of life?

Consumers faced with contract do not know what 'small print' contains or understand its effect. Exclusion clauses may deprive a consumer of specific rights in which he deserves protection. The Consumer Protection Act 1999 in Malaysia, allows the consumers to identify between procedural unfairness and substantive unfairness. However, Consumer Protection Act 1999 does not adequately protect consumer. By applying the content analysis research method, this paper reviews the legislative and judicial intervention on unfair terms in consumer contracts. This paper advocates that Malaysia should establish a specific framework on consumer law protection against unfair terms in consumer contracts.Keywords: Exclusion clauses; unfair terms; consumer contracts; judicial-legislative interventioneISSN: 2398-4287 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v3i9.1483

The emotional dimensions of energy projects: Anger, fear, joy and pride about the first hydrogen fuel station in the Netherlands

Citizens’ emotional responses to energy technology projects influence the success of the technology’s implementation. Contrary to popular belief, these emotions can have a systematic base. Bringing together insights from appraisal theory and from technology acceptance studies, this study develops and tests hypotheses regarding antecedents of anger, fear, joy, and pride about a local hydrogen fuel station (HFS). A questionnaire study was conducted among 271 citizens living near the first publicly accessible HFS in the Netherlands, around the time of its implementation. The results show that anger is significantly explained by (from stronger to weaker effects) perceived procedural and distributive unfairness, and fear by distributive unfairness, perceived safety, procedural unfairness, gender, and prior awareness. Joy is significantly explained by perceived environmental outcomes and perceived usefulness, and pride by prior awareness, perceived risks, trust in industry, and perceived usefulness. The study concludes that these predictors are understandable practical and moral considerations, which can and should be taken into account when developing and executing a project.

Creating procedural justice and legitimate authority within school discipline systems through youth court

AbstractSchools' ability to manage student misbehavior rests largely on students' perceptions of the discipline system and authority. According to the procedural justice perspective, when schools use discipline practices students perceive as unfair, they fail to see authority as legitimate, making them less likely to comply with rules and demand. Youth Court, a peer adjudication program, has been implemented in schools as an alternative to punitive policies. While effective, there is no current research that examines if Youth Court creates procedural justice and legitimate authority. Using qualitative data from three urban schools, this study investigates the fairness of Youth Court procedures within a procedural justice framework, as well as perceptions of primary discipline practices and authority. Findings revealed that each school still largely uses punitive policies that create procedural unfairness and undermine legitimate authority. Additionally, findings indicate Youth Court utilizes practices that allow for procedural justice that foster legitimate authority.

How passive job candidates respond to social networking site screening

Employer use of social networking sites (SNS) to screen job candidates is raising concerns about privacy, fairness, and withdrawal intention. Since passive candidates are more desirable in the global workforce market, this study proposed a mediation–moderation framework for understanding how and when passive job candidates’ perceptions of privacy violation and procedural injustice interact to predict their intent to withdraw from the selection process in the context of employee use of SNS screening. The valid 201 data from Taiwan employed users of Facebook were analysed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results indicated that a candidate who can better control his/her SNS information is less likely to perceive that his/her privacy has been invaded during SNS screening by potential employers, thus mitigating his/her perception of procedural unfairness. Moreover, when SNS screening is more transparent, the candidate is less likely to perceive the selection procedure as unfair, which will reduce his/her intention to withdraw from employment selection.

"They Can't Search Her": How Gender Imbalances in the Police Force Contribute to Perceptions of Procedural Unfairness.

Research suggests that gender imbalances in police forces can significantly affect individuals' experiences when interacting with police. Of importance, yet rarely examined, is the extent to which predominantly male police forces, in conjunction with adherence to gendered departmental policies, can simultaneously send signals of procedural justice and procedural injustice. Drawing on data from 253 in-depth interviews of San Francisco-based male and female drug-dealing gang members, we investigated how interactions with a male-dominated police force, who were required to search only suspects of the same gender, affected perceptions of fair policing. Our findings revealed that the study participants raised concerns that the police unfairly enforced the law to the detriment of the men in the study. The gang members were aware that male officers could only search same-sex suspects, and this exacerbated the gendered experiences of the gang members. Specifically, it contributed to the perception that male officers targeted male gang members to the omission of women and, if women were stopped, they were frequently released. These findings suggest that the gender composition of the police force is important in shaping attitudes toward equitable enforcement of the law and procedural fairness. Of theoretical importance, these findings highlight a contradiction that compliance with rules can contribute, counter intuitively, to perceptions of procedural injustice. Procedurally unfair police behavior may be a systemic problem where the gender composition of the police force itself creates an inherently unfair system.

Trauma and the Construction of Suffering in Irish Historical Child Sexual Abuse Prosecutions

Adopting the special issue’s broad definition of criminal law reform, this article explores some of the ways the Irish criminal process is grappling with the demands for justice of adults who report childhood sexual abuse. In particular, it shows how the cultural notion of trauma is bound up with the construction of victims’ suffering. In historical child sexual abuse prosecutions, trauma is shown to be an effect of the abuse on the victim/survivor; a site of mediation of the relationship between the state and victims; and a site of mediation of the relationship between the state and its past. The article first explores these insights in relation to the law’s approach to questions of alleged procedural unfairness to defendants flowing from the passage of time. Trauma is exposed as both legitimating some forms of suffering, and disqualifying others. The article then employs the trope of trauma to expose the problems with current approaches to cross-examination of vulnerable victims and recent reforms of the rules on disclosure of victims’ counselling records. Finally, the article explores the possibilities of trauma discourse in thinking anew about how to address the suffering of victims of historical child sexual abuse.