Abstract
During the past decade the study of the psychology of procedural justice has become well established within the field of justice. It has been widely found that people are as concerned with the fairness of the way decisions are made as they are with the fairness of those decisions (i.e., distributive justice). This paper identifies the questions which have dominated research on procedural justice during the past decade, discusses the conclusions which have been reached about those questions, and suggests important areas for future exploration by procedural justice researchers.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In Berkowitz, L. (ed.),Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 9, Academic Press, New York.
Adler, J. W., Hensler, D. R., and Nelson, C. E. (1983).Simple Justice: How Litigants Fare in the Pittsburgh Court Arbitration Program Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA.
Anderson, J. K., and Hayden, R. M. (1980–81). Questions of validity and drawing conclusions from simulation studies in procedural justice.Law Soc. Rev. 15: 293–304.
Barrett-Howard, E., and Lamm, H. (1986). Procedural and distributive justice: Definitions and beliefs of West German university students. Unpublished manuscript, Northwestern University.
Barrett-Howard, E., and Tyler, T. R. (1986). Procedural justice as a criterion in allocation decisions.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 50: 296–304.
Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swiddler, A., and Tipton, S. M. (1985).Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life University of California Press, Berkeley.
Bies, R. J. (1985). The influence of a leader's concerns for task, teamwork, and fairness on subordinates satisfaction and organizational evaluations. Unpublished manuscript, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University.
Bies, R. J. (1986). Identifying principles of interactional justice: The case of corporate recruiting. Paper presented at the National Academy of Management meetings. Chicago, IL.
Bies, R. J. (in press). The predicament of injustice: The management of moral outrage. In Cummings, L. L., and Staw, B. M. (eds.),Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 9, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT.
Bies, R. J., and Moag, J. S. (1986). Interactional justice: Communication criteria of fairness. In Lewicki, R. J., Sheppard, B. M., and Bazerman, M. H. (eds.),Research on Negotiation in Organizations, Vol. 1, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT.
Brett, J. M., and Goldberg, S. B. (1983). Grievance mediation in the coal industry: A field experiment.Ind. Labor Rel. Rev. 37: 49–69.
Cohen, R. L. (1984). Procedural justice and participation.Hum. Rel. 38: 643–663.
Cohen, R. L. (1986). Justice and power in intergroup relations. In Bierhoff, H. W., Cohen, R. L., and Greenberg, J. (eds.),Justice in Social Relations Plenum Press, New York.
Cook, K. (1986). Concluding remarks. International Conference on Social Justice in Human Relations, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Crosby, F. (1976). A model of egoistical relative deprivation.Psychol. Rev. 83: 85–113.
Damaska, M. (1975). Presentation of evidence and factfinding precision.Univ. Pennsylvania Law Rev. 123: 1083–1106.
Davis, J. H. (1980). Group decision and procedural justice. In Fishbein, M. (ed.),Advances in Social Psychology Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Deutsch, M. (1975). Equity, equality and need: What determines which value will be used as a basis for distributive justice?J. Soc. Issues 31: 137–150.
Deutsch, M. (1985).Distributive Justice: A Social Psychological Perspective Yale, New Haven.
Downs, A. (1957).An Economic Theory of Democracy Harper and Row, New York.
Early, P. C. (1984). Informational mechanisms of participation influencing goal acceptance, satisfaction, and performance. Unpublished dissertation, University of Illinois, Champaign.
Early, P. C., and Lind, E. A. (1986). Procedural justice and participation in task selection: Control-mediated effects of voice in procedural and task decisions. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Management and Policy, University of Arizona.
Folger, R., and Greenberg, J. (1985). Procedural justice: An interpretive analysis of personnel systems. In Rowland, K. M., and Ferris, G. R. (eds.),Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, Vol. 3, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, pp. 141–183.
Folger, R., and Martin, C. (in press). Relative deprivation and referent cognitions: Distributive and procedural justice effects.J. Exp. Soc. Psychol.
Goldberg, S. B., Green, E. D., and Sander, F. E.A. (1985).Dispute Resolution Little, Brown, and Company, Boston.
Greenberg, J. (1987). Using diaries to promote procedural justice in performance appraisals.Soc. Justice Res. 1(2).
Greenberg, J. (in press). Reactions to procedural justice in payment distributions.J. Appl. Psychol.
Greenberg, J., and Folger, R. (1983). Procedural justice, participation, and the fair process effect in groups and organizations. In Paulus, P. B. (ed.),Basic Group Processes Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 235–256.
Greenberg, J., and Tyler, T. R. (1987). Why study procedural justice in organizations?Soc. Justice Rev. 1(2).
Hardin, R. (1982).Collective Action Johns Hopkins, Baltimore.
Hardin, R. (1986). Concluding remarks. International Conference on Social Justice in Human Relations, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Hastie, R., Penrod, S., and Pennington, N. (1983).Inside the Jury Harvard, Cambridge, MA.
Hayden, R. M., and Anderson, J. K. (1979). On the evaluation of procedural issues in laboratory experiments.Law Hum. Behav. 3: 21–33.
Heuer, L., and Penrod, S. (1986). Procedural preference as a function of conflict intensity.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 51: 700–710.
Houlden, P. (1980–81). Impact of procedural modifications on evaluations of plea bargaining.Law Soc. Rev. 15: 267–291.
Houlden, P., LaTour, S., Walker, L., and Thibaut, J. (1978). Preference for modes of dispute resolution as a function of process and decision control.J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 14: 13–30.
Kaplan, M. F. (1986).The Impact of Social Psychology on Procedural Justice C. C. Thomas, Springfield, IL.
Kurtines, W. M. (1986). Moral behavior as rule governed behavior: Person and situation effects on moral decision making.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 50: 784–791.
Lane, R. E. (1986a). Procedural justice: How one is treated vs. what one gets. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Political Science, Yale University.
Lane, R. E. (1986b). Market justice, political justice.Am. Pol. Sci. Rev. 80: 383–402.
Laver, M. (1981).The Politics of Private Desires Penguin, New York.
Lerner, M. (1980).The Belief in a Just World: A Fundamental Delusion Plenum Press, New York.
Lerner, M. (1982). The justice motive in human relations and the economic model of man: A radical analysis of facts and fictions. In Derlega, V. J., and Grzelak, J. (eds.),Cooperation and Helping Behavior Academic Press, New York.
Lerner, M., and Whitehead, L. A. (1980). Procedural justice viewed in the context of justice motive theory, In Mikula, G. (ed.),Justice and Social Interaction Springer-Verlag, New York.
Leventhal, G. S. (1976). Fairness in social relationships. In Thibaut, J., Spence, J. T., and Carson, R. C. (eds.),Contemporary Topics in Social Psychology General Learning Press, Morristown, NJ.
Leventhal, G. S. (1980). What should be done with equity theory? In Gergen, K. J. Greenberg, M. S., and Willis, R. H. (eds.),Social Exchange: Advances in Theory and Research Plenum Press, New York.
Lewin, K., Lippitt, R., and White, R. K. (1959). Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created “social climates.”J. Soc. Psychol. 10: 271–299.
Lind, E. A. (1982). The psychology of courtroom procedure. In Kerr, N. L., and Bray, R. M. (eds.),The Psychology of the Courtroom Academic Press, New York.
Lind, E. A. (1986a).The Court-Annexed Arbitration Program in North Carolina Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA.
Lind, E. A. (1986b). A dilemma in procedural justice: The apparent tradeoff between fairness and accuracy. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
Lind, E. A., and Lissak, R. I. (1985). Apparent impropriety and procedural fairness judgments.J. Exp. Soc. Psychol. 21: 19–29.
Lind, E. A., and Tyler, T. R. (in press).The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice, Plenum Press, New York.
Lind, E. A., Kurtz, S., Musante, L., Walker, L., and Thibaut, J. (1980). Procedure and outcome effects on reactions to adjudicated resolution of conflicts of interest.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 39: 643–653.
Lind, E. A., Lissak, R. I., and Conlon, D. E. (1983). Decision control and process control effects on procedural fairness judgments.J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 4: 338–350.
Lissak, R. I., and Sheppard, B. H. (1983). Beyond fairness: The criterion problem in research on dispute intervention.J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 13: 45–63.
MacCoun, R., and Tyler, T. R. (1986). Citizens' attitudes toward the jury system: Accuracy, fairness and efficiency. Paper presented at the Law and Society Meetings. Chicago.
Martin, J. (1986). Revolutionary visions of justice. Paper presented at the Conference on Social Dilemmas and Collective Action, Nag's Head, NC.
McEwen, C. A., and Maiman, R. J. (1981). Small claims mediation in Maine: An empirical assessment.Maine Law Rev. 33: 237–268.
McEwen, C. A., and Maiman, R. J. (1984). Mediation in small claims court: Achieving compliance through consent.Law Soc. Rev. 18: 11–49.
Merton, R., and Rossi, A. S. (1957). Contributions to the theory of reference group behavior. In Merton, R. (ed.),Social Theory and Social Structure Free Press, New York.
Mikula, G. (1986). Concluding remarks. International Conference on Social Justice in Human Relations, Leiden, The Netherlands.
O'Barr, W. M., and Conley, J. M. (1985). Litigant satisfaction versus adequacy in small claims court narratives.Law Soc. Rev. 19: 661–702.
Okun, A. M. (1975).Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff Brookings, Washington, DC.
Opinion Roundup: The Courts. (1982).Public Opinion, August/September, pp. 25–26.
Piaget, J. (1965).The Moral Judgment of the Child Free Press, New York.
Rasinski, K. (1984). Outcomes, fairness, and values as predictors of political responses to government allocation policies and practices: A field study. Unpublished dissertation Northwestern University.
Rasinski, K., and Tyler, T. R. (1986). Predicting political behavior: The influence of self-interest, normative and symbolic concerns. Unpublished manuscript, Northwestern University.
Rawls, J. (1971).A Theory of Justice Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Runciman, W. G. (1966).Relative Deprivation and Social Justice Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
Schwartz, R. D. (1978). Moral order and sociology of law: Trends, problems and prospects.Ann. Rev. Sociol. 4: 577–601.
Sheppard, B. H. (1984). Third-party conflict intervention: A procedural framework. In Staw, B., and Cummings, L. (eds.),Research in Organizational Behavior,, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, pp. 141–190.
Sheppard, B. H. (1985). Justice is not simple matter: The case for elaborating our model of procedural fairness.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 49: 953–961.
Sheppard, B. H., and Lewicki, R. J. (1987). Toward general principles of manager fairness.Social Justice Rev. 1(2).
Sheppard, B. H., and Vidmar, N. (1980). Adversary pretrial procedures and testimonial evidence: Effects of lawyer's role and Machiavellianism.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 39: 320–332.
Sheppard, B. H., Saunders, D. M., and Minton, J. W. (1986). Procedural justice from the third party perspective. Unpublished manuscript, Fuqua Graduate School of Business, Duke University.
Silbey, S. S., and Merry, S. E. (1986). Mediator settlement strategies.Law and Policy 8: 7–32.
Thibaut, J., and Kelley, H. H. (1959).The Social Psychology of Groups Wiley, New York.
Thibaut, J., and Walker, L. (1975).Procedural Justice Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Thibaut, J., and Walker, L. (1978). A theory of procedure.Calif. Law Rev. 66: 451–566.
Tyler, T. R. (1984). The role of perceived injustice in defendent's evaluation of their court-room experience.Soc. Rev. 18: 51–67.
Tyler, T. R. (1986a). Justice and leadership endorsement. In Lau, R. R., and Sears, D. O. (eds.),Political Cognition Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.
Tyler, T. R. (1986b). What is procedural justice? Unpublished manuscript, Northwestern University.
Tyler, T. R. (1986c). When does justice matter in organizational settings? Paper presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association. Chicago.
Tyler, T. R. (1986d). Using procedures to lessen tradeoffs in organizational decision-making. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
Tyler, T. R. (1986e).Procedural justice in organizations. In Lewicki, R., Bazerman, M., and Sheppard, B. (eds.),Research on Negotiating in Organizations,, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, pp. 7–23.
Tyler, T. R. (1986f). Justice, legitimacy, and compliance. Paper presented at the Law and Society meetings, Chicago.
Tyler, T. R. (1986g). Conditions leading to value-expressive effects in judgments of procedural justice: A test of four models.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 52: 333–344.
Tyler, T. R., and Caine, A. (1981). The influence of outcomes and procedures on satisfaction with formal leaders.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 41: 642–655.
Tyler, T. R., and Folger, R. (1980). Distributional and procedural aspects of satisfaction with citizen-police encounters.Basic Appl. Psychol. 1: 281–292.
Tyler, T. R., and Lind, E. A. (1986). Procedural processes and legal institutions. Paper presented at the International Conference on Social Justice in Human Relations, University of Leiden, The Netherlands.
Tyler, T. R., and McGraw, K. (1986). Ideology and the interpretation of personal experience: Procedural justice and political quiescence.J. Soc. Issues 42: 115–128.
Tyler, T. R., Rasinski, K., and McGraw, K. (1985a). The influence of perceived injustice on the endorsement of political leaders.J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 15: 700–725.
Tyler, T. R., Rasinski, K., and Spodick, N. (1985b). The influence of voice on satisfaction with leaders: Exploring the meaning of process control.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 48: 72–81.
Tyler, T. R., Rasinski, K., and Griffin, E. (1986). Alternative images of the citizen: Implications for public policy.Am. Psychol. 42: 970–978.
Vidmar, N., and Laird, N. M. (1983). Adversary social roles: Their effects on witnesses' communication of evidence and the assessments of adjudicators.J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 44: 888–898.
Walker, L., and Lind, E. A. (1984). Psychological studies of procedural justice. In Stephenson, G. M., and Davis, J. H. (eds.),Progress in Applied Social Psychology,, Wiley, New York, pp. 293–313.
Walster, E., Walster, G. W., and Berscheid, E. (1978).Equity: Theory and Research Allyn and Bacon, Boston.
Walzer, M. (1983).Spheres of Justice Basic Books, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tyler, T.R. Procedural justice research. Soc Just Res 1, 41–65 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01049383
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01049383