Explaining Choices in Procedural and Distributive Justice Across Cultures

• NCJ Number: 140831
• Journal: International Journal of Psychology Volume: 27 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1992) Pages: 211-226
• Author(s): M H Bond; K Leung; S Schwartz
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey (Cross-Cultural)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: From a special issue entitled, "Social Psychological Approaches to Responsibility and Justice: The View Across Cultures."

Annotation

This study focuses on two of the behavioral domains that Leung et al. (1990) examined: distributive justice and procedural justice. The findings of the previous study are used to explore content issues in these areas.

Abstract

The Leung study explored the usefulness of an expectancy-value framework in explaining choices across three domains of social behavior in the cultures of Israel and Hong Kong. Subjects were presented with three scenarios that involved resource allocation, conflict resolution, and influence strategy. They then rated their likelihood of responding in a variety of ways and assessed their expectancies for various outcomes that arise from those responses, along with their valences for the various outcomes. The study established that expectancies accounted for more variations in the behaviors than did either value types or outcome valences; broad value types were related to outcome valences more strongly than to expectancies; the most parsimonious model explaining these choices was one that combined expectancies and outcome valences additively; and the additive model could be used to explain cultural differences in strength-of-behavior endorsement. In the current study, the model was applied to the domains of resource allocation and conflict resolution so as to pinpoint which expectancies and which valences were carrying the explanatory weight of the respondents' behavioral strategies. For both Israeli and Hong Kong students, the expectancies and, less strongly, the valences that tapped harmony and performance quality were important for resource allocation; those that tapped animosity-reduction and process control were important for conflict resolution. Suggestions are offered for broadening the net of explanatory constructs for future work that will specify subjective factors associated with justice-related behaviors. 2 tables, 22 references, and an article abstract in French