PERFORM WELL! IF YOU ACHIEVE GOOF RESULTS, EVEN UNINTENTIONALLY, YOU WILL BE REWARDED!

Authors

Bernard GANGLOFF^1,*, Luisa MAYORAL², Anne-Marie VONTHRON¹

¹ Laboratoire Parisien de Psychologie Sociale, Université Paris, France
² Unicen, Tandil, Argentina

ABSTRACT

Distributive justice theory posits that different criteria can be used to determine the distribution of bonuses among employees, namely equity, equality and the need rule. From an equity perspective, performance is often the key criterion meaning that the best employee will earn the most. However, theories of causal attribution suggest that better performance may result either from the greater skills or efforts of employees or from factors entirely unrelated to the actions or attributes of employees. In this study, 120 managers were asked to indicate the bonus they would grant to an employee by taking into consideration the employee’s performance and the extent to which the employee is responsible for his or her performance. Overall, the results indicate that performance is the primary factor influencing bonus distribution: a high performance employee earns more than other employees, regardless of his/her role in achieving success. However, there appears to be a limited interaction, with responsibility potentially acting as a moderating variable. The findings suggest that high performance associated with a low level of responsibility is viewed negatively, while a degree of leniency tends to be shown toward a lower performing employee not responsible for his/her poor performance. The results are discussed in terms of self-presentation strategies.

KEYWORDS: distributive justice, performance, causal attribution, equity

PAGES:19-32

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