Impression management in distributive justice: balancing fairness and social perception

Abstract

Distributive justice involves choices between principles such as strict equality and merit-based equity. This study examined whether individuals use these principles strategically to manage impressions, signaling warmth or competence in resource allocation. In Experiment 1, allocation choices differed according to evaluator orientation, although evaluator selections were also linked to monetary incentives. In Experiment 2, after evaluator-linked monetary incentives were removed, a similar but attenuated descriptive pattern emerged; however, the critical interaction effects were not statistically significant. Thus, the findings suggest that social-evaluative orientation may influence allocation preferences, but this apparent influence was weaker without evaluator-linked monetary incentives and requires confirmation in more adequately powered studies. Furthermore, exploratory analyses tentatively suggested that individual differences in fear of negative evaluation and subjective interoceptive sensitivity might be preliminarily associated with variability in allocation choices across evaluator conditions, highlighting potential avenues for future targeted replication. These findings suggest that impression management influences fairness decisions, highlighting the social motivation underlying distributive preferences.