In a study that was based on a structural model of deservingness, 24 male and 80 female undergraduate students responded to scenarios in which either a liked or disliked unemployed stimulus person expended either high or low eort and then either obtained employment or remained unemployed. Results showed that, when the outcome was employment, judgements of responsibility, deservingness, and pleasure about the successful outcome were higher when the stimulus person expended high eort rather than low eort. When the outcome was unemployment, judgements of responsibility, deservingness, and reported pleasure about the unsuccessful outcome were higher when the stimulus person displayed low eort rather than high eort in seeking a job and participants reported feeling less sympathetic and more annoyed with the stimulus person and less inclined to provide ®nancial assistance. Liking relations had most eects in the employed condition. The employed outcome elicited more reported pleasure and less resentment for the liked stimulus person and he or she was judged to be more responsible for and more deserving of employment than the disliked stimulus person. The results were discussed in relation to component balanced and unbalanced structures within the structural model and they also suggested some elaboration of the responsibility variable.