Friend or foe? The impact of relational ties with comparison others on outcome fairness and satisfaction judgments

• Prior equity findings qualified by ties with coworkers (positive & negative).
• Disadvantageous inequity is more (less) tolerated with positive (negative) ties.
• Advantageous inequity perceived as fairer (less fair) with negative (positive) ties.
• (In)equity and ties interact to affect experience of anger, happiness, and guilt.
• Effects of interaction on outcome satisfaction are mediated by anger and happiness.

Equity theory suggests that social comparison processes play a central role in employees’ fairness judgments. However, the effect of the relationship between an employee and a comparison other on such judgments has received scant attention. We tested this effect across three studies involving demographically (employees, students) and culturally (U.S., India) different samples and research designs (critical incident and scenario). Our results broadly suggest that, with inputs held constant, receiving a lower outcome than a comparison other is judged as fairer (and more satisfactory) when positively (vs. negatively) tied to the other. In contrast, a favorable outcome is judged as fairer when the comparison other is negatively (vs. positively) related. We also found that the impact of (in)equity on employees’ discrete emotions (i.e., guilt, happiness, anger) differed based on their relational tie with comparison others, and that differences in anger and happiness mediated the effects of (in)equity on outcome satisfaction.