Another issue revolves around the prespecified “+” nature of the adjustment, which is
also provided in the interdependence-present conditions (now without a prespecified
amount). Again, this could be overruled, and rightly so: An accurate relative bonus allocation
taking into account the event would actually require a negative adjustment. Still, a
potential explanation for the lower adjustment (propensity) in the compensation interdependent
conditions is that participants found it less evident that they could make a minus
adjustment, overruling the prespecified “+” sign. Put differently, the “plus” framing could
have made participants think “How much additional bonus will I give the unaffected manager?”
naturally resulting in a $0 adjustment. Consequently, the status quo was more
likely to be maintained, as a zero adjustment to the unaffected manager’s bonus automatically
implies a zero adjustment for the other manager. Here, the experimental framing is
not as neutral as possible, which could mean that the magnitude of the interactive effect of