Bad News and Quality Reputation among Users of Public Services

This manuexamines whether the effect of anchoring bias is greater when citizens evaluate the quality of a public service after receiving negative initial information about service performance than after receiving positive information. It also tests whether there are differences in this anchoring bias by comparing formal (report) vs. informal (rumor) communication. Two field experiments were conducted with the participation of passengers of a commuter public train transportation organization (Experiment 1, N = 105) and users of a public university administrative service (Experiment 2, N = 172). The first experiment confirmed the bias produced by the negative initial information, whereas this…

Fairness at the Unit Level

Intergroup conflict and rational decision making

The literature has been relatively silent about post-conflict processes. However, understanding the way humans deal with post-conflict situations is a challenge in our societies. With this in mind, we focus the present study on the rationality of cooperative decision making after an intergroup conflict, i.e., the extent to which groups take advantage of post-conflict situations to obtain benefits from collaborating with the other group involved in the conflict. Based on dual-process theories of thinking and affect heuristic, we propose that intergroup conflict hinders the rationality of cooperative decision making. We also hypothesize that this rationality improves when groups are involved …

Unit-level fairness and quality within the health care industry: A justice–quality model

We test a justice–quality model in which peer justice and justice climate are related to the service quality provided by the work unit. Based on the effort–reward imbalance model, we propose that units perceiving fair treatment provide better delivery of the core service (functional service quality) and better relational service beyond the core service (relational service quality). We also test whether the cross-level relationship of high service quality delivered by work units translates into high customer ratings of the service quality they receive. Furthermore, we propose that high service quality increases the work unit’s influence on their customers’ quality of life (QoL). We test thes…

Justicia organizacional en el sector servicios: El impacto de “peer justice” sobre el desempeño de la organización, la calidad percibida por los clientes y el bienestar de los empleados

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to examine the impact of peer justice—i.e., unit-level perceptions of the fairness with which coworkers generally treat one another—in service organizations. Five empirical studies were conducted to this end, using two samples from the health care industry, and controlling the effect of its counterpart, justice climate—i.e., unit-level perceptions of the fairness with which the unit is collectively treated by an authority figure. Sample 1 consisted of 79 supervisors, 532 employees, and 748 customers nested in 79 work units, whereas Sample 2 consisted of 692 employees nested in 111 work units. Study 1 tests the validity of peer justice and justice climate a…

Validating justice climate and peer justice in a real work setting

In this study we tested the validity of justice climate and peer justice, measured as second-order constructs, in a real work setting. First, we investigated the appropriateness of aggregating first-order facets of justice climate and peer justice to work-unit level of analysis. Second, we examined the construct validity of justice climate and peer justice as two different factor structures. Third, we tested the hierarchical structure of justice climate and peer justice as second-order factors. Finally, we examined the predictive validity of second-order factors justice climate and peer justice within a nomological network composed of reciprocity with the supervisor and reciprocity with cow…

The Moderating Role of Performance in the Link From Interactional Justice Climate to Mutual Trust Between Managers and Team Members.

The main goal of this study was to examine the interaction between team members’ performance and interactional justice climate in predicting mutual trust between managers and team members. A total of 93 small centers devoted to the attention of people with intellectual disability participated in the study. In each center, the manager ( N = 93) and a group of team members ( N = 746) were surveyed. On average, team members were 36.2 years old ( SD = 9.3), whereas managers were 41.2 years old ( SD = 8.8). The interaction between interactional justice climate and performance was statistically significant. Team members’ performance strengthened the link from interactional justice climate to mut…

Malas noticias y calidad de la reputación entre usuarios de los servicios públicos

ABSTRACT This manuscript examines whether the effect of anchoring bias is greater when citizens evaluate the quality of a public service after receiving negative initial information about service performance than after receiving positive information. It also tests whether there are differences in this anchoring bias by comparing formal (report) vs. informal (rumor) communication. Two field experiments were conducted with the participation of passengers of a commuter public train transportation organization (Experiment 1, N = 105) and users of a public university administrative service (Experiment 2, N = 172). The first experiment confirmed the bias produced by the negative initial informati…

Relaciones entre ruptura del contrato psicológico y burnout: un estudio en trabajadores de atención a personas con discapacidad intelectual

El contrato psicológico es clave en la relación entre la organización y el trabajador, influyendo en el bienestar laboral. En este estudio se analizó la relación entre la ruptura del contrato psicológico y las dimensiones nucleares del burnout o síndrome de estar quemado en el trabajo (agotamiento emocional y cinismo) en profesionales de centros de atención a personas con discapacidad intelectual. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 34 centros ocupacionales y de día de las provincias españolas de Madrid, Valencia, Alicante y Murcia. Los resultados indicaron una relación estadísticamente significativa entre la ruptura del contrato psicológico, por una parte, y el agotamiento emocional y el cinis…

Intergroup conflict and rational decision making.

The literature has been relatively silent about post-conflict processes. However, understanding the way humans deal with post-conflict situations is a challenge in our societies. With this in mind, we focus the present study on the rationality of cooperative decision making after an intergroup conflict, i.e., the extent to which groups take advantage of post-conflict situations to obtain benefits from collaborating with the other group involved in the conflict. Based on dual-process theories of thinking and affect heuristic, we propose that intergroup conflict hinders the rationality of cooperative decision making. We also hypothesize that this rationality improves when groups are involved …