TITLE:
Procedural Utility in the Work Place, Evidence from Mexico
AUTHORS:
André Vargas
KEYWORDS:
Procedural Utility, Labor Satisfaction, Procedural Fairness
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.4 No.9,
December
5,
2014
ABSTRACT: The concept
of Utility usually refers to the satisfaction a person acquires by consuming,
in general under circumstances bonded to income, and the price of goods. In a
psychological vision of personal well-being, happiness and its components,
consider the fact that people can value anything. This notion has led to the
study of Procedural Utility, that means people not only value the outcome of
something, but also values the process and conditions in which the outcome is
achieved. Procedural Utility can be obtained from various economic procedures
in which individuals are part of, e.g. Work and consumption among others.
Evidence has been found that in the work place the fact of being attached to
hierarchy generates negative Procedural Utility because it disrupts
psychological precepts that determine happiness, well-being, or utility [1]. In
other cases it has been found that the process on how a wage cut is done must
be considered [2]. In the light of this phenomena, I’ll discuss the concept of
Procedural Utility and analyze empirical evidence for the Mexican case with
“Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografía” INEGI’s self-reported
well-being survey (BIARE), with the finality to give suggestions on possible
applications of processes to improve the worker’s satisfaction.