Testing measures of equity sensitivity for resistance to response distortion

Equity sensitivity research has struggled to accumulate a coherent body of findings consistent with equity theory tenets, due in part to problems concerning the construct's measurement. Inaccurately measuring one's equity preferences may affect the validity of predictions made from distorted scores. Employing a within-subjects design with two independent samples, the present study compares the resistance of various equity sensitivity measures to response distortion. Study participants completed surveys under conditions of low and either moderate (in Sample 1) or high (in Sample 2) distortion. Findings suggest newer measurement approaches are more resistant to response distortion than traditional measures of equity sensitivity.