Soviet and American managers' reward allocations: A dependency approach

Performance is typically viewed as a major criterion for allocating rewards to subordinates. However, this study of 132 Soviet and 134 American managers showed that managers' dependency on subordinates can also affect reward allocation. Three factors representing dependency were manipulated in scenarios depicting a subordinate's good performance and managers recorded their reward allocations. A 2x2x2x2 analysis of variance showed that managers in both countries were more likely to reward subordinates who performed in-role rather than prosocial behavior, and who were low rather than high in substitutability. In addition, in each country there were different effects on reward allocation of subordinate marital status in combination with the substitutability of the subordinate. Implications for research and practice are presented of the impact of dependency on reward allocation.