Waste management
How reducing partiality can promote efficient resource allocation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6198640 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Shoham Choshen-Hillel (0000-0002-3219-2751, University of Chicago), Alex Shaw (0000-0002-8852-0179, University of Chicago), Eugene M Caruso (0000-0002-2406-2981, University of Chicago) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 109 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 210-231 |
| Publication date | 2015-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/pspa0000028 |
| PMID | 26075794 |
| OpenAlex | W2246418392 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 16 |
| References cited | 54 |
Two central principles that guide resource-allocation decisions are equity (providing equal pay for equal work) and efficiency (not wasting resources). When these two principles conflict with one another, people will often waste resources to avoid inequity. We suggest that people wish to avoid inequity not because they find it inherently unfair, but because they want to avoid the appearance of partiality associated with it. We explore one way to reduce waste by reducing the perceived partiality of inequitable allocations. Specifically, we hypothesize that people will be more likely to favor an efficient (albeit inequitable) allocation if it puts them in a disadvantaged position than if it puts others in a disadvantaged position. To test this hypothesis, we asked participants to choose between giving some extra resource to one person (thereby creating inequity between this person and equally deserving others) and not giving the resource to anyone (thereby wasting the resource). Six studies, using realistic scenarios and behavioral paradigms, provide robust evidence for a self-disadvantaging effect: Allocators were consistently more likely to create inequity to avoid wasting resources when the resulting inequity would put them at a relative disadvantage than when it would put others at a relative disadvantage. We further find that this self-disadvantaging effect is a direct result of people's concern about appearing partial. Our findings suggest the importance of impartiality even in distributive justice, thereby bridging a gap between the distributive and procedural justice literatures
Allocator · Business · Disadvantage · Disadvantaged · Distributive justice · Economic growth · Economic Justice · Economics · Equity (law) · Impartiality · Microeconomics · Political science · Public economics · Public relations · Resource allocation · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Law · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 16 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,78 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 15 |