An Investigation of Traditionality as a Moderator of Reward Allocation

Abstract

The authors hypothesized that group members' perceptions of group cohesion would affect their tendency to allocate equally to other members in their group and to make egocentric self-allocations. They also posited that individuals' adherence to Chinese traditional values (or traditionality) would moderate these relationships. Two hundred sixty Hong Kong undergraduate students were assigned to groups of five to eight members to complete two in-class projects. The students evaluated peer contributions to the projects and allocated contribution points to themselves and other members in the group. The contribution points formed part of the final grade assigned to the students. The authors found that traditionality moderates the relationship between perceptions of cohesion and deviations from equality when making allocations to their peers. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the study of reward allocations in groups and for the concept of traditionality in Chinese contexts.