The relationship of worker productivity to cognitive dissonance about wage inequities.

2 hypotheses derived from dissonance theory were tested: (a) when a person is paid by the hour his productivity will be greater when he perceives his pay as inequitably large than when identical pay is perceived as equitable, and (b) when a person is paid on a piecework basis his productivity will be less when he perceives his pay is inequitably large than when he perceives identical pay as being equitable. The first hypothesis was sustained (p < .05) in a laboratory experiment in which 11 male college Ss earned $3.50 per hour and were induced to feel overpaid and 11 control Ss earned $3.50 per hour and were induced to feel fairly paid. The second hypothesis was sustained (p < .01) in a factorial design study in which 36 Ss were paid either $3.50 per hour or 30 cents per piece, and felt either equitably pair or inequitably overpaid. In both studies an identical task, in which Ss interviewed the general public, was used.