The Fair Process Effect in the Classroom: Reducing the Influence of Grades on Student Evaluations of Teachers

Research findings tend to confirm anecdotal observations that instructors' teaching evaluations are influenced by students' grades, making some instructors feel pressured to reduce the academic rigor of their course in an attempt to get higher evaluations. To reduce this pressure, the current study tested whether distributive justice may explain the relationship between grades and student evaluation of teaching (SET) and how the fair process effect may moderate the relationship between distributive justice perceptions regarding grades and SET. Relying on the extant literature of procedural justice, we hypothesized that when students perceive no fair process that determines their grades, then: (a) the relationship between distributive justice perceptions and SET will be stronger and (b) the indirect effect of grades on SET via distributive justice perceptions will be stronger. Conversely, under conditions of strong fair process perceptions, these relationships will be attenuated. Using a survey of undergraduates' perceptions of course fairness, we found support for our proposed hypotheses. We discuss the implications of our findings for higher education faculty.