DECIDING ON EQUITY OR PARITY - A TEST OF SITUATIONAL, CULTURAL, AND INDIVIDUAL FACTORS

Previous cross-cultural research in distributive justice has neglected the situational and individual determinants of allocation preferences . This study incorporated the cultural value of Individualism-Collecti vism (I-C), situational demands of task interdependence and system goa ls, and individual achievement motivation to examine their effects on the allocation decisions made by U.S. Americans and Hong Kong Chinese. It was found that the Americans and the Chinese in the study responde d to situational demands in a similar fashion, i.e. equity was preferr ed under circumstances of low interdependence and the productivity goa l whereas parity was preferred under circumstances of high interdepend ence and the solidarity goal. It was also found that in the U.S., I-C had no significant relation with the allocation differential (between the bonus amounts for the highest and the lowest performer), and the a chievement motivation interacts with levels of interdependence and wit h goal priorities; in Hong Kong, both I-C and the achievement motivati on related negatively to the allocation differential. Research and man agerial implications for international management were discussed. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.