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Motivational processes: can perceptions of fairness augment effects of favourable autonomy supportive practices on … – Springer

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Abstract

Based on Self-Determination theory and social interaction models of social justice, in this article we examined whether perceptions of fairness catalysed the positive effects autonomy support on motivational and well-being outcomes. The study was conducted in the context of an all-boys school with 302 students, adopting a prospective design. Using surface analysis to estimate the dependent variables to be tested in non-liner regressions, the current research empirically extends social interaction models of distributive justice by testing, for the first time, whether perceptions of fairness can moderate the effects of autonomy supportive practices on satisfaction of psychological needs. The results demonstrated that perceptions of fairness engendered positive effects of favourable forms of autonomy support on satisfaction of the psychological need for competence. No analogous positive effects on other outcomes were found. Therefore, the perceptions of fairness constitute an important component of autonomy-supportive class climates that catalyse positive effects of favourable forms of autonomy support on satisfaction of the psychological need for competence. This evidence suggests that students are more likely to experience high levels of competence during physical education classes when they perceive that their favourable treatment is fair, though the effect does not generalise to autonomous motivation or subjective well-being.

Do students experience optimal levels of motivation and psychological well-being when they are treated favourably in autonomy supportive classrooms such as when they receive from teachers the largest possible amount of autonomy support, in the form of choices and opportunities for self-expression, during a lesson? Based on three lines of evidence that stem from Deci and Ryan’s (1985) self-determination theory, the answer to this question is ‘Yes’.

Firstly, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the provision and receipt of high levels of autonomy support are ‘satisfying’ because they satisfy three basic psychological needs (Deci and Ryan 1985; Ryan et al. 1991). These are the need of autonomy (for individuals to feel volitional and responsible for their own behaviour; deCharms 1968; Deci and Ryan 1990), competence (to produce outcomes and understand the instrumentalities leading to these outcomes; Deci and Ryan 1990; White 1959), and relatedness (to experience satisfactory relationships with others or with the social order more in general; Deci and Ryan 1990).

Secondly, replete evidence has shown that autonomy-rich classrooms that satisfy these needs facilitate enhanced levels of psychological well-being and adaptive forms of motivation such autonomous motivation (Cerasoli et al. 2014; Deci and Ryan 1985; Ng et al. 2012; Vansteenkiste et al. 2020; Vasquez et al. 2015). Broadly speaking, autonomous forms of motivation are adaptive when students engage in classroom activities for reasons of enjoyment (intrinsic motivation) or because they believe that the classroom activities are instrumental in the attainment of important and valued outcomes (identification; Ryan and Connell 1989).

Thirdly, studies have shown that autonomy-poor teaching practices that do not satisfy the three basic psychological needs either undermine autonomous forms of motivation (i.e., Deci et al. 1999) or facilitate non-adaptive forms of motivation such as controlling motivation (Feng et al. 2019; Nie et al. 2014). Controlling forms of motivation are not adaptive when students engage in classroom activities to avoid punishment (external regulation) or to not feel guilty and receive disapproval if they do not engage in classroom activities (introjection; Ryan and Connell 1989).

Despite the earlier evidence that ‘treats’ autonomy support as an adaptive form of treatment, recent studies have suggested that the effectiveness of autonomy-supportive teaching practises is conditional on recipients’ perceptions about the amount of autonomy support that their classmates receive during a lesson (Deci et al. 2006; Lee and Chatzisarantis 2017). The reason for this is that students are highly empathetic to classmates’ needs, feelings, and emotions (Evans et al. 1993; Kowal and Kramer 1997). Broadly speaking, a key characteristic of empathetic students is that they adopt and experience their classmates’ perspectives and their positive or negative emotional states as their own (deWaal and Suchak 2010; Morelli et al. 2015). Further evidence supports a link between perceived autonomy and fairness (Aldama et al. 2021).

As consequence of this increased sensitivity to classmates’ feelings and emotions, numerous studies have documented that favourably treated students, who receive larger amounts of autonomy support than their classmates, experience particularly low levels of need satisfaction, autonomous motivation, and psychological well-being (Chatzisarantis et al. 2019; Deci and Ryan 2016). The rationale behind this is that empathetic processes lead favourably treated students to experience as their own, the negative feelings and emotions that their classmates are perceived to experience as a result of receiving low amounts of autonomy support (i.e., fewer choices and opportunities for self-expression; Legate et al. 2013, 2015). In contrast, evidence also suggests that empathetic processes can lead students or friends to experience optimal levels of need satisfaction when their classmates (or friends) receive an equal or even higher amount of autonomy support (see also Deci et al. 2006; Weinstein and Ryan 2010). In this case, positive empathetic processes lead students to experience as their own the positive feelings and emotions that their classmates are perceived to experience as a result of receiving an equally large amount of autonomy support (Chatzisarantis et al. 2019; Morelli et al. 2015).

In this study, an alternative hypothesis is proposed which predicts that perceptions of fairness constitute an important aspect of class climates that engenders positive effects of favourable forms of autonomy support on need satisfaction. This hypothesis predicts synergistic interactive effects of favourable forms of autonomy support and perceptions fairness on need satisfaction can be derived from research that tested social interaction models of social justice instrumental theories in laboratory settings (Yamamoto and Takimoto 2012). The research makes a significant and novel contribution to the literature as it tests whether perceptions of fairness provide essential nutrients that enable favourably treated students experience enhanced levels of need satisfaction, autonomous motivation and subjective well-being in autonomy supportive contexts.

Conceptual framework and contributions of the current study

An objective of social interaction models of social justice is to identify conditions and mechanisms that engender empathetic responses and prosocial behaviour (Decety and Cowell 2015). A fundamental premise of these models is that empathetic responses co-evolved in conjunction with perceptions of fairness out of a need to inhibit negative empathetic responses (de Quervain et al. 2004; Singer et al. 2006). This fairness-related mechanism that controls empathetic processes is also considered to be evolutionary adaptive due to exhaustion from experiencing the negative feelings and emotions of others if they could not inhibit their empathetic responses (Davidov et al. 2013; Talbot et al. 2011; Yamamoto and Takimoto 2012). In accordance with the proposition that judgments of fairness inhibit empathetic processes, studies have demonstrated that favourably treated individuals, who observed another person receiving less favourable outcomes in the form of electric shocks or monetary rewards, exhibited weaker empathetic-related neural responses when they perceived that their favourable treatment was unfair (Decety et al. 2009; de Quervain et al. 2004; Singer et al. 2006; Yamamoto and Takimoto 2012).

Research that linked empathy to perceptions of fairness has important implications for understanding effects of favourable autonomy support on satisfaction of psychological needs. In previous studies, the negative effects of favourable forms of autonomy support on satisfaction of psychological needs were attributed to negative empathetic processes (Chatzisarantis et al. 2019; Feshback 1975; Legate et al. 2013, 2015; Morelli et al. 2015; Pavey et al. 2012; Wesselmann et al. 2009; Williams 2009). However, if perceptions of fairness inhibit negative empathetic processes (Yamamoto and Takimoto 2012) then it is plausible that favourably treated students will be likely to not empathise with their classmates, and hence they will be more likely to report high levels of need satisfaction, when they perceive that their favourable treatment is fair. In contrast, favourably treated students may report especially low levels of need satisfaction, when their favourable treatment is perceived to be unfair by virtue of negative empathetic processes that lead them to experience low levels of need satisfaction that their classmates experience when receiving low amounts of autonomy support (de Quervain et al. 2004). The present study will test this hypothesis that entails synergistic interactive effects of favourable forms of autonomy support and perceptions of fairness on need satisfaction in real-life classroom settings.

This study makes several contributions to the literature. Previous studies have corroborated synergistic effects of favourable treatment and perceptions of fairness on neural responses of empathy and related outcomes such as positive appraisals, self-worth, depressive symptoms, tax evasion, and jealously (Kowal and Kramer 1997; Loeser et al. 2016; Singer et al. 2006; Verboon and Dijke 2007). However, it is currently unknown whether perceptions of fairness augment effects of favourable forms of autonomy support on satisfaction of psychological needs. In this study we aim to empirically extend social interaction models of distributive justice by testing whether perceptions of fairness can catalyse effects of autonomy supportive practices on satisfaction of psychological needs. Additionally, this study attempts to clarify the adaptive nature of the synergistic interactive effects between perceptions of fairness and favourable forms of autonomy support (Deci and Ryan 1985). It may be tempting to hypothesise that the synergy between perceptions related to fairness and favourable autonomy support will predict enhanced levels of autonomous motivation and psychological well-being by virtue of its effects on satisfaction of psychological needs. This hypothesis would be consistent with our first hypothesis and tenets of self-determination theory because research, that tested this theory in various settings, suggests that need-satisfying processes facilitate adaptive forms of autonomous motivation and enhanced levels of psychological well-being (Deci and Ryan 1985; Ryan and Deci 2001).

However, it is plausible that favourably treated students, who receive a much larger amount of autonomy support relative to their classmates, may perceive that their favourable treatment is contingent (or conditional) on their ability or their willingness to work hard in the class. This is a possibility as numerous studies have documented that teachers tend to provide more autonomy support to hard-working students than students who work less hard in the class (Biddle and Goudas 1997; Pelletier et al. 2002; Sarrazin et al. 1996; Skinner and Belmont 1993). This evidence that ‘likens’ favourable autonomy support to constructs that capture conditional forms of social support is important to consider because, in the perspective of self-determination theory, constructs and processes akin to conditional social support do not facilitate autonomous forms of motivation. Replete evidence has shown that although conditional forms of treatment, such as conditional regard, may lead to enhanced levels of competence and academic engagement (Deci et al. 1999; Ryan et al. 1991), at the same time have also been shown to be not related to or they undermine adaptive forms of motivation such as autonomous motivation (Assor et al. 2004; Deci et al. 1999; Roth 2008; Roth et al. 2009; Ryan et al. 1991). Accordingly, in the present study we will explore the adaptive nature of the hypothesised synergistic effects by examining whether these effects extend to autonomous forms of motivation and indicators of psychological well-being.

Overview of the study and hypotheses

The present study tested synergistic effects between perceptions of fairness and favourable forms of autonomy support on satisfaction of psychological needs, motivational and well-being outcomes. Based on social interaction models of distributive justice (Yamamoto and Takimoto 2012), we predicted that favourable forms of autonomy support would yield higher levels of autonomy, competence, and relatedness when receipt of favourable autonomy support was perceived to be fair than when receipt of favourable amounts of autonomy support was judged to be unfair.

Additionally, we examined whether the hypothesised synergistic effects captured what proponents of self-determination theory consider to constitute an adaptive process (Deci and Ryan 1985). Given that the literature is unclear on whether the fairness-related synergistic effects represent an adaptive process, we did not develop specific hypotheses. However, we reasoned that if the fairness-related synergistic effects represented an adaptive process then changes in perceptions of fairness, from unfair to fair, should augment the effects of favourable forms of autonomy support on autonomous motivation and psychological well-being. In contrast, if the synergistic effects do not reflect an adaptive process, then perceptions of fairness should not increase effects of favourable forms of autonomy support on autonomous motivation (Sheldon et al. 2004) and indicators of psychological well-being (Baker 2004; Burton et al. 2006) or they should augment positive effects of favourable forms of autonomy support on controlling forms of motivation (Assor et al. 2004). In the present study we tested these predictions in the context of a prospective study that measured students’ responses to extramural physical education classes.

In this study, we also measured a number of additional variables in order to control for their effects on need satisfaction, motivation and well-being outcomes. We controlled for age because our participants varied in terms of age. Finally, we measured several indicators of psychological well-being such as general levels of subjective well-being (Diener et al. 1999) and specific measures of enjoyment that captured enjoyment, satisfaction, and happiness with physical education classes (see Hsee et al. 2009). The reason for measuring enjoyment with physical education classes and general levels of subjective well-being was to examine whether our hypothesised synergistic effects extended to different well-being outcomes.

Method

Participants and design

Participants were 302 male students (M age = 16.84, SD = 2.56) attending extramural physical education classes in an all-boys school, recruited for the study during their leisure-time. The physical education classes were not part of the curriculum and comprised male participants. We adopted a prospective design in which we measured psychological variables at two points in time. We initially measured students’ perceptions regarding amount of autonomy support that they and their classmates received from teachers. These measures were used to estimate effects associated with favourable forms of autonomy support (see Edwards 2001; Edwards and Parry 1993; Deci et al. 2006). In addition, we measured perceptions of fairness, autonomous and controlling forms of motivation and need satisfaction. After five weeks, we measured enjoyment with physical education classes and subjective well-being. Psychological measures were completed in quite classroom settings of no more than 40 students. Prospective measures were matched with baseline measures by using dates of birth as criteria. The response attrition rate was 3.4% which included 11 students that did not attend physical education classes during the second wave of data collection. Hence, the final sample comprised 291 students attending physical education classes (M age = 16.84, SD = 2.56). The data and materials are available at OSF via the following link https://osf.io/u9vba/?view_only=45bf61336abc498a84e3afc52219b859.

Measures

Perceptions related to favourable forms of autonomy support

Following Deci et al.’s (2006) methods, we estimated effects associated with favourable autonomy support by measuring two component variables that aimed to capture perceptions of personal and classmates’ autonomy support. Specifically, we used six items from Black and Deci’s (Need satisfaction

We used the basic psychological need satisfaction scale to measure experiences associated with satisfaction of the psychological needs for autonomy (e.g., I feel free to express my ideas and opinions during the class), competence (e.g., Most days I feel a sense of accomplishment during the class) and relatedness (e.g., I get along with people in the class; Deci et al. 2001). All items were measured on seven-point scales ranging from not at all true (1) to very true (7). The alpha reliabilities for autonomy (α = 0.65), competence (α = 0.55) and relatedness (α = 0.58) were low but consistent with previous studies that also observed low reliability levels for these constructs (i.e., Johnston and Finney 2010).

Autonomous and controlling forms of motivation

Autonomous and controlling forms of motivation were measured through an approach introduced by Ryan and Connell (1989). Participants were asked to respond to the stem question: “Why do you participate in the physical education class?” followed by four items representing autonomous forms of motivation (identified regulation or intrinsic motivation) and four items capturing controlling forms of motivation (external regulation or introjection). An example item for identification was: “because it is important to me to be physically active”. An example for introjection was: “because I will feel bad about myself if I don’t do it”. An example, for external regulation was: “because I want the physical education teacher to think that I am a good person”. An example for intrinsic motivation was: “because physical education is fun”. Autonomous forms of motivation were captured by averaging responses to items measuring identification and intrinsic motivation. Analogously, controlling forms of motivation were determined by averaging responses to items measuring external regulation and introjection. All items were measured on 4-point scales ranging from not at all true (1) to very true (4). The internal consistency reliability for autonomous motivation (α = 0.56) and controlling motivation were low (α = 0.58).

Perceptions of fairness

Following Tyler et al. (1985) recommendations, students’ perceptions of (un)fairness regarding favourable treatment were measured through a single item that read: “I think that the physical education teacher’s tendency to be more supportive of some students than others is unfair”. Responses to this item were measured on 7-point scales ranging to from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). In the analysis, we reversed responses to this scale so that high scores indicated strong perceptions of fairness or analogously low perceptions of unfairness (see also Tyler and Lind 1992).

Enjoyment with the physical education classes

We employed Hsee and Zhang’s (2004) instrument to measure enjoyment with physical education classes. The instrument contained three items that measured satisfaction, happiness, or enjoyment with the physical education classes. An example item was: “How much did you find the physical education classes enjoyable the previous 5 weeks”. Responses to this item were measured on a 19-point scale ranging from very unenjoyable (−9) to very enjoyable (9). Another example item was: “How satisfied do you feel about your performance at the physical education class the previous 5 weeks?”. This item was measured on a 19-point semantic differential scale ranging from very unsatisfied (−9) to very satisfied (9). The alpha reliability of this measure was satisfactory (α = 0.97).

Subjective well-being

We employed Diener et al. (1999) satisfaction with life scale to measure subjective well-being. The instrument contains five items that are measured on 7-point scales ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). An example item was: “In most ways my life is close to my ideal.” The alpha reliability of this scale was satisfactory (α = 0.77), after excluding an item measuring satisfaction with life (i.e., I am satisfied with my life). However, we report results from analyses that employed the 5-item scale because analyses using the four or 5-item scales revealed similar results.

Analysis

We initially calculated descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlations for all variables. For the main analysis, we carried out surface analyses of the following unconstraint regression equation that aimed to predict seven outcome (dependent) variables. The dependent variables aimed to capture satisfaction of the three psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness, autonomous motivation, controlling motivation, enjoyment with physical education classes and subjective well-being (Edwards 1994):

$$eqalign{{text{DV}},&=,{upbeta _{{text{DV}}1}}{text{P}},+,{upbeta _{{text{DV}}2}}{text{C}},+,{upbeta _{{text{DV}}3}}{text{F}},+,{upbeta _{{text{DV}}4}}{text{PxC}},+,{upbeta _{{text{DV}}5}}{text{PxF}},cr &quad+,{upbeta _{{text{DV}}6}}{text{CxF}},+,{upbeta _{{text{DV}}7}}{text{PxCxF}},+,{upbeta _{{text{DV}}8}}{text{Age}}+{{text{c}}_{{text{DV}}0}}}$$

(1)

In Eq. 1, the term DV represents the dependent variables. The terms P and C are independent variables capturing participants’ responses to instruments measuring amount of autonomy support received by participants (P) or classmates (C). The terms F and Age are also independent variables representing participants’ responses to the instrument measuring perceptions of fairness or the age of participants respectively. In the present study, all independent variables were standardised so that the value of zero captured mean scores of independent variables (Aiken and West 1991; Edwards and Parry 1993). The coefficients βDV1 to βDV8 represent unstandardized regression coefficients that capture main effects of variables (i.e., βDV1) or interactive effects between perceptions of fairness with variables that aim to capture amount of autonomy received by participants (βDV5) or classmates (i.e., βDV6). The coefficients cDV0 are the constants of the regression equations.

Following estimation of regression equations, we estimated surface parameters for regression equations that predicted dependent variables. At the operational level, a regression equation was considered to predict a dependent variable if the omnibus F value of the regression equation was statistically different from zero. It is important to note that for surface analysis, it is typical practice to analyse and interpret surface patterns and surface parameters of statistically significant regression equations even though specific regression coefficients that contribute to the shape of the regression surface are not statistically significant (Edwards 1994). One reason for this is that surface parameters are function of linear (or non-linear) combination of a set of regression coefficients rather than a single regression coefficient (Edwards and Cable 2009; Edwards and Parry 1993; Harris et al. 2008).

In the present study, the surface parameter of interest was the directional derivative (Cohen et al. 2010). In calculus, the directional derivative captures the instantaneous rate of change of a dependent variable with respect to a unit-vector that captures infinitesimal changes in two or more independent variables. In the context of the present study, the unit-vector of interest represented changes toward fair or unfair favourable autonomy support. In the present study, we analysed directional derivatives because they provide an accurate test of our hypothesis that predicts effects of simultaneous changes in favourable autonomy support and perceptions of fairness on dependent variables. In contrast, regression coefficients that are estimated through simple-effect analysis of statistically significant interactions do not model effects associated with favourable autonomy support, but effects associated with a form of equal autonomy support in which participants receive a marginally higher amount of autonomy support relative to classmates (Aiken and West 1991; Chatzisarantis et al. 2016; Edwards and Parry 1993; Hayes and Preacher 2010).

Based on Cohen’s et al. (2010) equations, we estimated that the directional derivatives that captured changes toward fair favourable autonomy support (Dffair) and unfair favourable autonomy (Dfunfair) were:

$${text D}_{text{fair}}{text f},=,frac{{upbeta }text{D}text{V}1 + {upbeta }text{D}text{V}2 + {upbeta }text{D}text{V}3}{surd 3}$$

(1.1)

$${text D}_{text{unfair}}{text f},=,frac{{upbeta }text{D}text{V}1 + {upbeta }text{D}text{V}2- {upbeta }text{D}text{V}3}{surd 3}$$

(1.2)

In the present study, we concluded that perceptions of fairness catalysed positive effects of favourable autonomy support on dependent variables if, the directional derivatives that captured changes toward fair autonomy support (Dfairf) were statistically different from zero and stronger than the directional derivative captured changes toward unfair autonomy support (Dunfairf).

Following Edwards and Parry’s (1993) recommendations, we evaluated statistical significance and differences between directional derivatives by comparing the residual variance of the unconstraint regression model in Eq. 1 against the residual variance of constraint models. The constraint models were estimated by coupling the regression models in Eq. 1 with equality constraints that set directional derivatives that captured changes toward fair favourable autonomy support to equal either zero (Dfairf = 0) or directional derivatives that captured changes toward unfair favourable autonomy support (Dfairf = Dfunfair). Comparisons between the constraint and unconstraint model were accomplished by estimating statistical significance of F change values (ΔF) that captured differences in misfit (residual variances) between constraint and unconstraint models. Statistically significant values for ΔF support our hypothesis as they mean that the directional derivative that captured changes toward fair favourable autonomy support was different from zero and stronger (different) than the directional derivative that captured changes toward unfair favourable autonomy support. Although this study did not propose a hypothesis about statistically significance of the directional derivatives that captured changes toward unfair favourable autonomy support, we estimated statistical significance for these directional derivatives as well. This was accomplished by comparing unconstraint against constraint models that set the directional derivatives that captured changes toward unfair favourable autonomy support at zero (Dunfairf = 0). We provide a step-by-step guide on how to calculate directional derivatives in an Appendix.

Results

Preliminary analysis

Table 1 presents descriptive statistics and correlations between psychological variables. In accordance with previous research (Chatzisarantis et al. 2019; Deci et al. 2006), the positive correlations between personal and classmates’ autonomy support with measures of subjective well-being or measures that captured satisfaction of the psychological needs for autonomy or relatedness indicated that participants reported high levels of autonomy, relatedness, and subjective well-being when they believed that they and their classmates received large amounts of autonomy support. Most critical, correlations between perceptions of fairness with measures of psychological needs or enjoyment with physical educational classes indicated that participants who judged favourable treatment as fair enjoyed more the physical educational classes as well as they reported higher levels of autonomy, competence, or relatedness than participants who judged favourable treatment as unfair.

Table 1 Descriptive statistics and correlations between psychological variables

Full size table

Main analysis

Table 2 presents results of the regression analyses that aimed to predict the dependent variables. As shown, we did not estimate directional derivatives for regression equations to predict autonomous motivation or subjective well-being because the omnibus F tests for those equations were not statistically significant. Linear regression analysis shown statistically significant simple effect interactions for relatedness; however, this test is not able to capture effects of simultaneous change in two or more variables (Cohen et al. 2010). While directional derivatives estimation can accurately examine effects of the instantaneous rate of change of a dependent variable with respect to a unit-vector that captures infinitesimal changes in favourable autonomy support and perceptions of fairness. In line with this test, analysis of statistically significant regression equations indicated that perceptions of fairness catalysed positive effects of favourable forms of autonomy support on perceptions of competence. This is because the F change tests (ΔF) that showed that the unconstraint model that predicted perceptions of competence exhibited a much better fit than corresponding constraint models that set directional derivatives that captured changes toward fair autonomy support to equal either zero (Dfairf = 0) or the directional derivative that captured changes toward unfair autonomy support (Dfairf = Dunfairf). However, this analysis did not support an analogous conclusion for the models that aimed to predict satisfaction of the needs for autonomy or relatedness or measures that aimed to capture controlling motivation or enjoyment with physical education classes. This is because in those analyses the directional derivative that captured changes toward fair favourable autonomy support were either not statistically significant or not statistically different from the directional derivative that captured changes toward unfair favourable autonomy support.

Table 2 Surface parameters and F-tests for regression models predicting need satisfaction, motivation and well-being outcomes

Full size table

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to examine synergistic effects of favourable forms of autonomy support and perceptions of fairness on need satisfaction, motivation, and psychological well-being in real-life classroom settings. The results addressing our specific hypothesis of simultaneous change indicated that perceptions of fairness augmented effects of favourable forms of autonomy support on experiences related to satisfaction of the psychological need for competence. In addition, our analysis showed that the synergistic effects observed for perceptions of fairness and favourable autonomy support were not attenuated by age. Hence, at an empirical level, this study supports tenets of social interaction models of distributive justice that were first to suggest that perceptions of fairness constitute an important component of a control mechanism that moderates effects associated with favourable forms of treatment (Singer et al. 2006; Yamamoto and Takimoto 2012). However, this research extends theories of distributive justice in a number of ways.

In particular, it is the first to demonstrate that perceptions of fairness modulate effects associated with favourable autonomy support. This is due to previous studies not measuring favourable treatment with respect to autonomy support but favourable outcomes that captured receipt of monetary rewards, punishments, or social support (Decety et al. 2009; de Quervain et al. 2004; Singer et al. 2006; Kowal and Kramer 1997). Additionally, previous studies have focused mainly in demonstrating the effects that perceptions of fairness exerted on empathetic responses rather than outcomes that are triggered by empathetic process such as satisfaction of the psychological need for competence (Kirman and Teschl 2010; Singer et al. 2006). Hence, we empirically report evidence that reveals for the first time that perceptions of fairness constitute an important component of autonomy-supportive class climates that catalyses positive effects of favourable forms of autonomy support on satisfaction of the psychological need for competence. Broadly speaking, results from this research suggest that students are more likely to experience high levels of competence during physical education classes when they perceive that their favourable treatment is fair than when they perceive that their favourable treatment is unfair.

Although this study demonstrated synergistic effects of perceptions of fairness and favourable forms of autonomy support on measures of competence, the regression analysis did not detect analogous synergistic effects on satisfaction of the psychological needs for relatedness and autonomy. Therefore, in interpreting our results, it is important to keep in mind that the synergistic effects observed for favourable forms of autonomy support and perceptions of fairness are specific to competence and they do not generalise to satisfaction of the psychological needs for autonomy or relatedness.

The findings of this study should not be taken to mean that perceptions of fairness instigate an adaptive process in autonomy-supportive contexts. This is because the regression analysis did not support increases in the levels of autonomous motivation or subjective well-being among students who judged receipt of favourable amounts of autonomy support as fair. These findings add new insights into social justice literature given that, from a social justice perspective, individuals’ preoccupation with distributive fairness is said to be evolutionary adaptive because it stops favourably treated individuals from empathising with negative feelings and emotions of others who do not deserve their attention or help. Contrary to this view, we found that, from a self-determination theory perspective, the synergistic effects associated with favourable autonomy support and perceptions of fairness do not constitute an adaptive process as they do not motivate students, who receive favourable forms of autonomy support, experience enhanced levels of autonomous motivation and subjective well-being.

It is also important to note that we were able to conclude that the synergistic effects between favourable forms of autonomy support and perceptions of fairness do not constitute an adaptive process only when we evaluated predictive validity of these effects against a comprehensive list of outcomes that captured need satisfaction, psychological well-being, autonomous and controlling forms of motivation. Had we evaluated synergistic effects alongside measures of competence only, we would conclude that fairness judgments are part of an adaptive process that leads students who receive favourable amounts of autonomy support to experience enhanced levels of competence.

This methodology of evaluating adaptive nature of constructs of autonomy support and perceptions of fairness alongside a comprehensive list of outcomes is important to emphasise because previous studies have not been always employing measures of autonomous motivation or psychological well-being in their analysis (Colquitt et al. 2001; Deci et al. 2006; Legate et al. 2013; Loeser et al. 2016; Singer et al. 2006; van Proijen 2009; Vasquez et al. 2015). Additionally, in the perspective of self-determination theory, it is not theoretically sound or valid to infer adaptive nature of internal and external processes from tests that examine effects of these processes on satisfaction of the psychological need for competence only. This is because according to this theory not all processes that lead to satisfaction of the psychological need for competence are adaptive (Deci et al. 1999). For example, earlier studies conducted by Ryan et al. (1991) or Deci (1971) identified that although ego-involving tendencies that are fundamentally selfish appear to satisfy the psychological need for competence they are nevertheless maladaptive because they undermine intrinsic motivation and levels of psychological well-being (Cohen et al. 2010; Deci et al. 1999; Kaplan 2018; Pelletier et al. 2002; Pelletier and Vallerand 1996).

Given that our measures of motivation and psychological well-being prevented us from reaching erroneous conclusions about adaptive nature of synergistic effects between perceptions of fairness and favourable forms of autonomy support, we advise researchers to always evaluate adaptive nature of these effects alongside a comprehensive list of outcome variables that capture psychological well-being as well as constructs that indicate autonomous and controlling forms of motivation. By including measures of autonomous motivation and psychological well-being in their designs, researchers can avoid making erroneous conclusions about adaptive nature of processes that capture interactions between autonomy support and perceptions of fairness as well as acquire a better understanding of magnitude of these effects in laboratory and real-life classroom settings.

It will be a remiss to not discuss limitations of the present study and provide directions for future research. In particular, the design of our study does not allow us to examine whether effects observed for perceptions of fairness and favourable autonomy support are moderated by third variables such as subject areas or gender because our sample comprised male participants only. Further research should test the present effects in female samples to examine the generalisability of the present findings. In addition, we might have not been able to detect synergistic effects of favourable forms of autonomy support and perceptions of fairness on outcome measures that captured autonomous motivation or satisfaction of the psychological needs for relatedness or autonomy because these outcome variables exhibited low reliability levels (Aiken and West 1991). However, low reliability does not explain why we observed synergistic effects on perceptions of competence that displayed relatively low reliability levels too. Despite this, we think it may be important to replicate findings of this study with measures of need satisfaction or autonomous motivation that exhibit acceptable levels of reliability. Finally, though exposures of five weeks and shorter showed its efficiency (McNaughton-Cassill et al. 2000; Fjeldsoe et al. 2011; DeFouw et al. 2021; Kiyono et al. 2022) a longer exposure could have produced a stronger effect (Bolier et al. 2013), which can be further examined in future research.

In conclusion, this study extends social interaction models of social justice by showing for the first time that perceptions of fairness constitute an important component of a control mechanism that increases effects of favourable forms of autonomy support on perceptions of competence. However, our findings also suggest that the interactive effects observed for perceptions of fairness and favourable forms of autonomy support do not capture what proponents of self-determination theory define as an adaptive process. This is because the regression analysis did not support synergistic effects of perceptions of fairness and favourable forms of autonomy support on a host of other variables that captured subjective well-being, autonomous motivation or measures that captured satisfaction of psychological need of autonomy and relatedness. An implication of these findings is that researchers can avoid making erroneous conclusions about adaptive nature of autonomy support or perceptions of fairness by including measures of autonomous motivation and psychological well-being in research designs.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the Open Science Framework https://osf.io/u9vba/?view_only=45bf61336abc498a84e3afc52219b859. The data is presented in deidentified format and follows the University and the Journal policies. The data and questionnaire will be made publicly available at OSF after acceptance for publication; during the review an anonymous view-only link can be provided for the reviewers upon their request.

References

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Acknowledgements

We thank the individuals whose data enabled this study.

Funding

Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. This study did not receive any specific grants from any funding agency.

Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Population Health, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia

    Nikos L. D. Chatzisarantis

  2. Sydney School of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia

    Sviatlana Kamarova

  3. Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, Urmia Branch, Islamic Azad University, Urmia, Iran

    Malek Ahmadi

  4. Sport Sciences Faculty, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey

    Elif Nilay Ada

  5. School of Physical Education and Sport Science, The University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece

    Athanasios Papaioannou

Contributions

N.C., S.K., M.A., E.N.A., & A.P. contributed to the study design and concept. M.A. contributed to the acquisition of data. N.C., S.K., M.A., E.N.A., & A.P. contributed to the analysis and interpretation of the data. C.N. and S.K. contributed to drafting of the manuscript. N.C., S.K., M.A., E.N.A., & A.P. contributed to critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content. N.C., S.K., A.P. contributed to statistical expertise.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sviatlana Kamarova.

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In accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements, permissions for the study on human participants carried on in Iran were obtained from all local institutions and officials, participants’ legal guardians and participating students within the institution, no additional ethical approval was required.

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Written informed consent to participate in this study was obtained from all participants and their legal guardians for participation in the study.

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Chatzisarantis, N.L.D., Kamarova, S., Ahmadi, M. et al. Motivational processes: can perceptions of fairness augment effects of favourable autonomy supportive practices on satisfaction of the basic psychological needs?. SN Soc Sci 4, 123 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-024-00925-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-024-00925-6

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