RECIPROCAL JUSTICE AND STRATEGIES OF EXCHANGE

Using a conception of reciprocal rather than distributive justice, we investigate the fairness of power strategies in exchange networks. We propose that norms of fairness affect the risk of using different strategies, by influencing the probability that they will provoke retaliation or resistance. Using computer-simulated actors to manipulate strategies, we investigate how subjects perceive and respond to their partners' strategies that vary in reciprocity and power base. As predicted, subjects in power-balanced networks judged both reward- and punishment-based power strategies as more unfair that reciprocal strategies, and punishment strategies as more unfair that equally nonreciprocal reward strategies. Punishment strategies provoked more resistance that reward strategies but, unexpectedly, no greater retaliation. Over time, the instrumental effects of the strategies tended to overcome reactions to injustice.