Procedural Justice From the Third-Party Perspective

We examined the effect of a concern for fairness on the dispute intervention behavior of lay third parties. Three hundred subjects, including parents, students, and managers, participated in structured interviews probing their most recent intervention in a dispute. Results suggest that lay third parties are particularly likely to vary their behavior at the early stages of the dispute resolution process as a function of their concern for fairness. However, the particular activities on which third parties with a high concern for fairness focus appear to vary as a function of the type of dispute in which they are involved. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Duke Scholars

Author Blair H. Sheppard Fuqua School of Business