On the hiring of kin in organizations: Perceived nepotism and its implications for fairness perceptions and the willingness to join an organization

Nepotism is often condemned, but little is known about what people construe as nepotism, and why it is considered problematic. In five experiments, conducted in Indonesia and the U.S.A., we addressed the question whether the employment of a competent family member is considered just as nepotistic and unfair as the employment of a less competent family member. In Studies 1 (N = 101) and 2 (N = 200), participants construed the hiring of a relative...