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Social Comparison and Distributive Justice: East Asia Differences

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Abstract

Using a survey of 393 employees who were natives and residents of China, Japan, and South Korea, we examined the extent to which employees from different countries within East Asia experience distributive justice when they perceived that their work outcomes relative to a referent other (i.e., someone with similar “inputs” such as educational background and/or job responsibilities) were (1) equally poor, (2) equally favorable, (3) more poor, or (4) more favorable. As predicted, we found that when employees perceived themselves relative to a referent other to be recipients of more favorable outcomes (i.e., pay, job security), Chinese and Korean employees were less likely than Japanese employees to experience distributive injustice. We also found that these differences were partially mediated by employees’ level of materialism. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management Department, China Europe International Business School, 699 Hongfeng Road, Pudong, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Tae-Yeol Kim

  2. Kenan Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Jeffrey R. Edwards

  3. Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Debra L. Shapiro

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  1. Tae-Yeol Kim
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  2. Jeffrey R. Edwards
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Correspondence to Tae-Yeol Kim.

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Kim, TY., Edwards, J.R. & Shapiro, D.L. Social Comparison and Distributive Justice: East Asia Differences. J Bus Ethics 132, 401–414 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2326-1

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