Effects of Justice Conditions on Discrete Emotions

Research on organizational justice typically focuses on attitudinal, cognitive, or behavioral outcomes. Emotional reactions to justice have been suggested but not studied. The emotional appraisal literature provides a framework within which to analyze emotional reactions to just and unjust events. Undergraduates (67 females and 55 males) were randomly assigned to conditions crossing either a positive or negative outcome and a procedure which was either fair, biased in the participant's favor, or biased in favor of another, after which their emotional responses were assessed by self report. Results support predictions about discrete emotional reactions. As predicted by emotional-appraisal theories, reports of happiness were influenced only by outcome, whereas reports of guilt, anger, and to a lesser extent pride, were influenced by specific combinations of outcome and procedure. Results are discussed within an emotional appraisal framework.