People's functional evaluations, perception of fairness, and commitment to the state

Abstract

A questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of 3,000 people who were older than 20, and 993 responded. The questionnaire was designed to measure the respondent's functional evaluations of Japan's political branches (the Diet, the Government, and its administrative agencies), its perceived fairness, his/her emotional and utilitarian commitment to Japan, and the political party he/she supported. Based on the fairness-bond theory model, we hypothesized that positive evaluations of political branches would increase perceived fairness, which in turn leaded to a stronger commitment. Path analysis indicated that the hypothesis was partially supported, and that functional evaluations of political branches had a direct effect on the commitment. It was also found that politically conservative respondents showed more positive evaluations and stronger commitment to Japan than liberal ones, suggesting political attitudes as a moderator variable for the fairness mediation.