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ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Motivating individuals and teams

Anita discovers that a colleague doing the same job with similar experience receives a higher salary. Under Adams' equity theory, which response is she most likely to adopt to reduce the perceived inequity?

She is most likely to reduce her effort. Equity theory says people compare their ratio of inputs to outcomes with a reference person's, and when they feel under-rewarded they restore balance by lowering inputs, such as effort, or by seeking higher outcomes.

  1. AReduce the effort she puts into her workCorrect
  2. BIncrease her effort to match the colleague's pay
  3. CValue the pay differential more highly
  4. DGive up the comparison because only inputs matter

Explanation

Adams' theory says people compare their input/outcome ratio with that of others. Feeling under-rewarded, a common response is to lower inputs such as effort to restore balance. Increasing effort would widen the imbalance rather than correct it.

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