A spoonful of fairness: Training in fairness principles helps communicate bad news

Abstract

Fairness training was examined in its effect on resulting third party perceptions of communicating a negative outcome. Twenty-nine students were videotaped communicating an unfavourable decision twice within a one-week interval: before and after having participated in fairness training, or – in the control group – remaining untrained. Results showed that the training had positive effects on ratings of trainees’ fairness, trustworthiness, identification with trainees, and the acceptance of the communicated decision compared with the control group. This is the first study to examine the impact of training fairness principles on the acceptance of disadvantageous decisions. Practical implications are that training in fairness principles seems to be an effective and propitious way of enabling leaders to interact, communicate and make decisions in an efficient and psychologically sustainable manner in different contexts.

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