Expectations, Evaluations and Equity

One important reason for the inconsistent findings of the research on inequitably over-rewarded individuals is the failure to understand and control the process by which rewards come to be related to the formation of expectations about rank or position on the dimensions of evaluation which are the basis for the allocation of rewards in social systems. If individuals have well-defined expectations concerning position or rank on the dimension of evaluation which serves as the basis for allocating rewards, when reward-expectations are violated the individual will define the situation as unjust and will attempt to act equitably when allowed to distribute rewards. If, on the other hand, an individual's rank expectations are not clearly defined, rank expectations emerge which tend to be consistent with the actual distribution of rewards. In this case, individuals come to define the initial distribution by some third party as equitable, and when given the opportunity to allocate rewards they maintain the existing reward distribution, continuing to allocate more pay to themselves.