Multiple earnings comparisons and subjective earnings fairness: A cross-country study

• Earnings comparisons consist of the parallel, upward and downward comparisons.
• These earnings comparisons are significant determinants of the earnings fairness.
• The influences of these earnings comparisons vary with societal characteristics.
• The upward comparison is the most malleable to societal characteristics.
• In recession, the unjust feelings can be explained by the upward comparison.

Earnings comparisons are defined by the earnings differential within the same social class, the parallel comparison, and the longitudinal comparison, which consists of the upward and downward comparisons. These three types of earnings comparisons are direct and significant determinants of the perception of earnings fairness. The influences of these three types of earnings comparisons on fairness perception vary with societal characteristics, such as the degree of corruption, income inequality, and unemployment. Of these three types of earnings comparisons, the group upward comparison is the most malleable to societal characteristics. Past studies on earnings fairness cannot explain workers’ strong feelings of injustice in the most recent recession, in which the unemployment rate has been high, but the strong feelings of injustice can be explained by the group upward comparison in this study.