Justice Norms Applied to Relationships

Equity, Need, and Equality

The rule that has received most attention in research is the equity rule. John Stacy Adams originally formulated Equity Theory in the 1960s to explain employees' job satisfaction and motivation, but he postulated that the equity rule would be relevant in all human relationships in which exchanges of resources take place, including close relationships such as relationships between romantic partners or close friends. According to Equity Theory, a distribution is equitable when the ratio between contributions and rewards of each individual to an exchange is equal. Imagine a situation in which two friends take on a job to paint someone's house for a certain amount of money. When the job is done, the two friends have to divide the money between them. All else being equal, if one friend has spent twice as many hours on the job, then, according to Equity Theory, the money should be divided accordingly (i.e., that friend should receive two thirds of the money and the other friend one third). The ratio becomes unequal whenever either member is receiving too much or too little, relative to what they are contributing. Equity Theory proposes that individuals who perceive themselves as either overbenefited (receiving more than a fair share) or underbenefited (receiving less than a fair share) will become distressed, but that underbenefit is more distressing than overbenefit. Equity Theory further predicts that the distress leads to efforts to either restore actual equity (by changing one's own contributions or by convincing the other individual to change theirs) or psychological equity (by changing one's perceptions and expectations of each individual's contributions and rewards). If this fails, individuals may end the relationship or disengage from it.

The idea that equity applies to all human relationships has been challenged by researchers who postulate that the justice norm used will depend on the type of relationship. According to these researchers, the equity rule is the typical justice norm in exchange relationships (business relationships and relationships between strangers), but not in communal relationships (relationships among romantic partners, friends, and family members). An important feature of communal relationships is that people are concerned with the other person's welfare and well-being. In such relationships, people are thought to use a need-based rule: They are responsive to the other person's needs without expecting or wanting a benefit in return. Also, receiving a benefit does not create a debt that has to be reciprocated at a later time. The responsiveness to needs is expected to be mutual: Each member will try to accommodate the other person's needs to the best of his or her ability. Going back to the example of the friends painting the house: Suppose these are close friends and the friend who spent fewer hours on the job really needs the money, but was unable to put in the hours because he got sick. In that situation, the other friend might very well go 50:50 on the money. He might even give the whole amount to his friend if the friend's needs are pressing (e.g., the friend is otherwise unable to pay the rent) and he does not desperately need the money at present.

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