New Research from Professor Tae-Yeol Kim

Most of us developed our concept of fairness during childhood by comparing what we are given with what others get. Is our piece of cake the same size as our sibling’s? How often does the teacher pick us to lead the class assembly? Academics call this social comparison and distributive justice. When we enter the workplace as adults, research shows we start weighing a different set of material outcomes – how we perceive our salary, promotion opportunities and job security compares to our colleagues determines whether we feel we are being treated fairly by our employer.

A new research study co-authored by CEIBS Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management Tae-Yeol Kim explores how the fairness perceptions of Chinese, Japanese and Korean employees are influenced by these common social comparisons in the workplace. The findings show that the subjects’ overall feeling of fairness increased as their own compensation increased compared to similar colleagues at a similar level doing similar work. However when compared to the Chinese and Koreans, the Japanese were more likely to perceive it as unfair if they received significantly more pay than others at a similar level. The Chinese also saw this situation as unfair, but not to the same degree that the Japanese did. The Japanese were also more sensitive to fairness in job security, particularly when they believed their job was more secure than others at a similar level. The results also showed that the level of materialism inherent in the culture of these three countries affected the results. The Chinese were more materialistic, which helps to explain why, when their compensation was significantly above their peers, they didn’t perceive the discrepancy to be unfair.

The results are important for several reasons. First they illustrate why it’s important that managers not assume that all Asian employees will have the same reaction. Second, managers should recognize how their employees recognize materialism. Lastly, managers would do well to reward similar employees in a similar way because when employees feel they are being treated fairly they are more positive and exhibit more ethical behaviour.

The results appear in the paper “Social Comparison and Distributive Justice: East Asia Differences”. Prof. Kim’s co-authors are Jeffrey R. Edwards of the Kenan Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and Debra L. Shapiro of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. It is forthcoming in the Journal of Business Ethics, which is a prestigious FT 45 publication.   

Read the paper here