Abstract Based on equity theory, we explored how welfare policies affect employees’ sense of fairness through a questionnaire survey and a situational experiment. The results show that: (1) The beneficiary, who had benefited from the policies, reports more fairness perceptions than nonbeneficiary; (2) Resources allocation norm moderates the relationship between the usage frequency of welfare policies and fairness perception of employees; (3) There exists compensation effects among different policies, and the relationship between the usage and the perceived fairness of policy A is moderated by the use of policy B. These findings extend our understanding of equity theory and provide a theoretical basis for the organizations to formulate appropriate welfare policies and build up a corporate culture of fair and justice.
