ABSTRACT
Introduction The general aim of this chapter is to investigate the causal relationship between a willingness to contribute in the workplace and the effect of employees’ social norms. The employment relationship is an exchange relationship, but “once the wage has been determined, this sets the stage for conflicts over work effort” (Hechter, 1987: 127). Not only effort but also contribution, more generally, is in focus here; this encompasses commitment, persistence, willingness to change, to submit novel ideas, and so on. These aspects are highly sensitive to fairness issues-issues that impinge on the question of variance of social norms in employment situations and among different kinds of
Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................155 Motivation and Fairness ...........................................................................................................156 Endowment Effects and Employment Rights: Equity versus Equality .......................................157 Motivation and Incentives ........................................................................................................158 Propositions for Human Resource Management .......................................................................160 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................161 References ................................................................................................................................161
