Values and Value Dilemmas in Relation to Judgments Concerning Outcomes of an Industrial Conflict

Hypotheses about relations between values, justice variables, and confidence were tested in a study in which 117 university students responded to questions concerning a major industrial conflict between a union and an employer and then completed selected value items and a measure of egalitarian values. Results showed that participants’ judgments about the dispute were related to power, prosocial, and egalitarianism values, the form of the relation depending on type of value and party to the dispute (union or employer). Relations between value types, perceived responsibility for the dispute, deserve a successful outcome, and reported affect were consistent with a structural model, and results concerning procedural fairness also were accommodated within this model. As predicted, participants reported least confidence in their judgments when either power and prosocial values or power and egalitarian values were both high in importance. They were most confident when power values were low in importance and either prosocial or egalitarian values were high in importance.