Understanding equity sensitivity through the lens of personality: a review of associations and underlying nature

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to clarify the ambiguous nature of equity sensitivity and understand the associations between equity perceptions and the personality domain in organizational behaviour. Design/methodology/approach The study reviews 56 articles that rendered associations between different HEXACO personality domains and equity sensitivity and proposed a possibility of equity sensitivity being a situation-activated trait. Findings The domains of Honesty-humility, Conscientiousness and Agreeableness are predominantly associated with equity sensitivity. The domain of Emotionality is also associated but not as significant as the aforementioned domains. Unexpectedly, Extraversion, the domain of social interactions, and Openness to experience showed little to no associations. The transient nature of equity sensitivity has been proposed that postulates that such nature might help predict an individual’s personality characteristics in a given context. Originality/value This review is one of the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to describe the associations between equity sensitivity and the HEXACO personality domains. Additionally, the situational nature of equity sensitivity and relationship with the personality traits is proposed.