A Deservingness Approach to Respect as a Relationally Based Fairness Judgment

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Abstract
Value judgments, attributional judgments, and self-esteem are predicted to moderate the relationship between respectful treatment and procedural justice. In three studies, the moderation hypothesis is supported. In Studies 1 and 2, attributional and value judgments are shown to moderate the effect of respect so that respect is most important for those individuals who perform positively valued behaviors, particularly those who are responsible for those behaviors. Path analyses in Study 2 reveal that the respect-justice relationship is mediated by perceptions of deservingness. Study 3, a field survey, shows that respect is more important for the procedural fairness judgments of high self-esteem individuals. Several theoretical perspectives support the argument that these variables moderate the relation between respectful treatment and procedural fairness because of their impact on deservingness judgments. This deservingness effect is proposed to have implications for understanding the moderating effects of situational and personality variables for numerous fairness models.