Accountability and helping: When needs exceed resources.

Examined the possibility that when clients' needs exceed available resources, making a helping agent accountable to either the provider or recipients of resources impairs helping. To test this prediction, a bogus service agency was created in which 66 male university students allocated financial resources among 6 financial aid applicants. Accountability was manipulated by telling some Ss that immediately after allotting grants they would report their decisions to a representative of the agency (provider accountability); others were told that they would report their decisions to all 6 applicants (recipient accountability); still others were told that their decisions would remain entirely confidential (no accountability). Sufficiency of resources was varied by setting the S's financial aid budget at a level that was either more or less than adequate to meet all applicants' needs. As predicted, when applicants' needs exceeded resources, accountability led to less effective use of resources than did no accountability. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)