1988 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 131-138
Three situational variables, DGM (member's dependence on the group for obtaining material goods), DGB (member's dependence on the group for obtaining behavioral goods such as esteem, love etc.) and IGA (instrumentality the group activities have for getting material goods) were hypothesized to affect which justice principle (equity, equality, or needs) should be adopted when the profit from the group activities is to be distributed among group members. It was further hypothesized that DGM, DGB and IGA will enhance respectively the probabilities with which equity, equality and needs principles are adopted.
Three hundred sixty four undergraduates responded to a questionnaire which contained twelve hypothetical allocation problems with varied degrees of the three situational variables and some supplementary question items such as his or her general view of distributive justice (GV), the Just World Scale (JWS) etc.
The result shows; (1) increased IGA enhances adoption of equity principle; (2) adoption of needs principle is also affected by IGA, but negatively; (3) increased DGB heightens the above mentioned effects of IGA, i. e. positive influence for equity and negative for needs. Neither variables affected significantly apoption of equality principle. The results in relation to JWS and GV are also discussed.
