Two experiments investigated the effects of "voice" (participating in allocation decision making by expressing one's own opinion about the preferred allocation) on responses to an inequitable allocation. In addition to subjects' (female college students) either having or not having voice, Experiment 1 manipulated (a) whether the allocation made by a "decision maker" (supposedly another subject but actually the experimenter) was or was not biased (due to selfinterest) and (b) whether the subject did or did not learn that a "co-worker" believed the allocation to be inequitable. Experiment 2 (with female high school students) manipulated the presence or absence of voice and involved only a self-interested decision maker; also, a note from a co-worker either supported the decision maker's allocation or confirmed the subject's opinion that the allocation was inequitable. In both experiments, the impact of voice was mediated by knowledge about the co-worker's opinion. When subjects had no knowledge of the co-worker's opinion (Experiment 1) or knew that the co-worker's opinion coincided with the decision maker's allocation (Experiment 2), there was evidence for a "fair process effect": Voice subjects expressed greater satisfaction than those with no voice.
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