Reward Allocations, Gender, and Task Performance

Abstract

Undergraduate subjects were asked to picture themselves as supervisors deciding how much to pay each member of a group of five workers. Independent variables are sex composition of work group, sex of high or low producer, output of deviant producer, and group task outcome. We examined choice of equality versus equity, dollar amount allocated, perception of relative value of workers, social orientation, and task orientation. Only one of the original hypotheses, the only one not related to gender, was supported: There is an association between expressing a social orientation and choosing to allocate equally, and between expressing a task orientation and choosing to allocate equitably. This finding characterized male and female subjects equally. We found no support for any hypotheses based on common assumptions about gender and allocation, or gender and management style. Male and female supervisors respond similarly to both mixed sex groups and groups of their own gender, but differently to supervising a group that consists entirely of workers of the opposite gender to themselves. Perceived success versus failure of the group is an important conditioning variable.