(Walster, Traupmann and Walster, 1978) In business Equity theory has been widely applied to settings by industrial psychologists to describe the relationship between an employee's motivation and his or her perception of equitable or inequitable treatment. The greater the inequity, the more distress people feel and the more they try to restore equity.

Individuals who perceive that they are in an inequitable relationship attempt to eliminate their distress by restoring equity. The person who gets too little may feel angry or humiliated dadadum. Much like other prevalent theories of motivation, such as, equity theory acknowledges that subtle and variable individual factors affect each person’s assessment and perception of their relationship with their relational partners (Guerrero et al., 2005).

Partners do not have to receive equal benefits (such as receiving the same amount of love, care, and financial security) or make equal contributions (such as investing the same amount of effort, time, and financial resources), as long as the ratio between these benefits and contributions is similar. Equity is measured by comparing the of contributions and benefits of each person within the relationship. It focuses on determining whether the distribution of resources is fair to both relational partners. It proposes that individuals who perceive themselves as either under-rewarded or over-rewarded will experience distress, and that this distress leads to efforts to restore equity within the. Background Equity theory focuses on determining whether the distribution of resources is fair to both relational partners.

Adam equity theory of motivation pdf