Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Theory of Reward Stability and Group Cooperation

博士论文研究：报酬稳定性与群体合作理论

• 批准号: 1332428
• 负责人: David Melamed
• 金额: $ 0.77万
• 依托单位: University of South Carolina at Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-15 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1332428&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Theory; Reward

David Melamed Hyomin Park The University of South Carolina This research investigates the stability of rewards on group cooperation. Justice theory has shown that justice evaluations play a key role in producing emotional and behavioral reactions among group members. However, little attention has been paid to role of the stability of rewards over time in producing its perceptual, emotional, and behavioral consequences. In the real world, however, most people belong to a group and conduct exchange relations repeatedly. To understand justice evaluations, it is important to investigate the effects of the stability of rewards over an extended period of time. Negativity bias explains that a negative event has a stronger effect on people's evaluations than a positive effect of the same size. Combining justice theory with the principle of negativity bias over time, this research tests the effect of reward stability on justice evaluations and subsequent behavioral consequences. Specifically, the theory suggests that an under-reward at one time cannot be compensated for by the same size over-reward at another time. Rather, the fluctuation of rewards over time will reduce justice evaluations of group members. This is predicted to effect cooperation and other group-related behaviors.The first study tests the effect of unstable rewards on justice evaluations. This is liely the first empirical study which tests the relationship between reward consistency and justice evaluations. The second study will test how the justice evaluations generated by unstable rewards can produce emotional distress and consequently reduce group cooperation. In this way, the investigators expect to comprehend how the stability of a reward system facilitates group cooperation. These findings will broaden our knowledge of group processes and lay a theoretical and empirical foundation for future research regarding justice theory and group cooperation. Broader ImpactsThe research has sociological implications for social justice theory as well as cognitive psychology, and organizational behavior. Combining literatures across those diverse fields, the findings are expected to facilitate interdisciplinary research on justice processes. At the societal-level, the research results are relevant to organizational decision making processes and government policy. This study predicts that an unstable reward system will promote extra costs for the organization to maintain people's commitment to the group. The research also suggests implications for government policy that inconsistency of a policy over time will make people regard the government not only as unreliable, but also as unfair. Third, the research provides undergraduate students with first hand research training.

David Melamed Hyomin Park 南卡罗来纳大学这项研究调查了团队合作奖励的稳定性。正义理论表明，正义评价在群体成员情绪和行为反应的产生中发挥着关键作用。然而，很少有人关注奖励随着时间的推移稳定性在产生感知、情感和行为后果方面的作用。然而，在现实世界中，大多数人都属于一个群体，并反复进行交换关系。为了理解正义评估，重要的是研究长期奖励稳定性的影响。消极偏见解释说，消极事件对人们评价的影响比相同大小的积极影响更大。本研究将正义理论与随时间变化的消极偏差原理相结合，检验了奖励稳定性对正义评价和后续行为后果的影响。 具体来说，该理论表明，一次奖励不足不能通过另一次相同规模的过度奖励来补偿。相反，奖励随时间的波动会降低群体成员的公正评价。预计这会影响合作和其他与群体相关的行为。第一项研究测试了不稳定奖励对正义评估的影响。这实际上是第一个检验奖励一致性与正义评价之间关系的实证研究。第二项研究将测试不稳定奖励产生的正义评价如何产生情绪困扰，从而减少群体合作。通过这种方式，研究人员期望了解奖励系统的稳定性如何促进群体合作。这些发现将拓宽我们对群体过程的认识，并为未来正义理论和群体合作的研究奠定理论和实证基础。更广泛的影响这项研究对社会正义理论以及认知心理学和组织行为具有社会学意义。结合这些不同领域的文献，研究结果预计将促进司法程序的跨学科研究。在社会层面，研究结果与组织决策过程和政府政策相关。这项研究预测，不稳定的奖励制度将增加组织的额外成本，以维持人们对团队的承诺。研究还表明，随着时间的推移，政策的不一致会让人们认为政府不仅不可靠，而且不公平。第三，该研究为本科生提供了第一手的研究训练。