Adams Equity Theory:
John Stacey Adams' equity theory helps explain why pay and conditions alone do not determine motivation. It also explains why giving one person a promotion or pay-rise can have a demotivating effect on others.

When people feel fairly or advantageously treated they are more likely to be motivated; when they feel unfairly treated they are highly prone to feelings of disaffection and demotivation.

Employees seek to maintain equity between the inputs that they bring to a job and the outcomes that they receive from it against the perceived inputs and outcomes of others. The belief in equity theory is that people value fair treatment which causes them to be motivated to keep the fairness maintained within the relationships of their co-workers and the organization.



Words like efforts and rewards, or work and pay, are an over-simplification - hence the use of the terms inputs and outputs. Inputs are logically what we give or put into our work. Outputs are everything we take out in return.