Equity Sensitivity in the Romanian Cultural Context
Participants were 319 full-time employees, 43.9% male and 56.1% female, with at least three years of work experience (M=16.77, SD=10.66), ranging in age from 20 to 64 (M=38.02, SD=10.87), working in different organizations across Romania. Participants were recruited through a convenience sampling approach within the personal network of social science students. Three measures were used for data collection: the 16-item Equity Preference Questionnaire (α=.81) to assess equity sensitivity, 9 verbal portraits to identify the comparison person or group, and 11 verbal portraits to measure the preferred strategy to reduce inequity when it occurs.
The results indicate that Romanian employees tend to have a benevolent approach to equity, i.e. they show greater tolerance for under-reward situations. When assessing the fairness of the exchange with the organization, the respondents preferred to compare themselves with their colleagues or not to compare at all. In under-reward situations, the preferred strategies for reducing inequity were: (1) requesting additional rewards and (2) cognitively distorting outcomes by maximizing the perceived value of benefits. In over-reward situations, the main strategy was to increase work effort. Based on these findings, we proposed an exploration of issues of culture, power, and social structure, which provide the backdrop against which workers' measured perceptions of justice can be understood from a sociological perspective. Furthermore, along with limitations and future research directions, practical implications for Romanian organizations were suggested with the aim of achieving better equity at work.