This article examines how reward allocation behaviour is influenced by culture (Chinese vs. American), personality differences (psychological individualism vs. collectivism), social relationships (allocation to one's friend vs. colleague at work), and availability of resources (limited vs. unlimited). Subjects made monetary allocation to themselves and to a partner in a hypothetical situation. Two kinds of deviation from proportional allocation were distinguished. They were egalitarianism and generosity. Results showed that subjects tended to be more egalitarian in their allocation when their contribution had been high. As a group, Chinese subjects were more generous (using an allocation rule that was to the partner's advantage) than American subjects, especially when dealing with friends. Furthermore, when there was no limit on the amount of reward to be distributed, Chinese subjects were more egalitarian than the Americans. Finally, the Chinese subjects' egalitarian tendency away from proportional distribution of rewards was curtailed when collectivism was statistically controlled. However, the Same statistical procedure did not reduce their tendency toward generosity. The role of collectivism as an explanation for cnws-cultural differences in reward allocation is discussed.

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On a exploré dans trois recherches la relation entre la satisfaction professionnelle et les mentalités individualiste ou communautaire. Dans la première, une étude de niveau écologique, nous avons trouvé des corrélations à la limite de seuil de signification entre l'indice d'individualisme de Hofstede et des attitudes défavorables envers la communication et les relations professionnelles; toutes deux relèvent des aspects inter‐individuels du travail. Pour la deuxième recherche, c'est un échantillon d'employés chinois de Hong Kong qui ont fourni les données. Les employés présentant un sentiment communautaire se montraient plus satisfaits de leur travail, de leur salaire, de leur promotion, de leur encadrement et de leurs collègues que leurs homologues individualistes. La troisième étude a retrouvé les résultats de la deuxième avec un échantillon d'employés d'un niveau plus modeste. The relationship between individualism‐collectivism and job satisfaction was explored in three studies. In the first, ecological‐level, study, we found marginally significant correlations between Hofstede's individualism index and unfavourable attitudes towards working relationships and communication, both being interpersonal aspects of work. In the second study, data were collected from a sample of Chinese employees in Hong Kong. Collectivist employees reported higher satisfaction with their work, pay, promotion, supervision, and coworker than their individualist counterparts. Study 3 replicated findings of Study 2, with a sample of employees at a lower rank.

Nous avons prCsum6 que la satisfaction qu'un groupe de travail chaleureux et sympathique procurera a ses membres dCpendra de leur niveau de collectivisme psychologique: il s'agit d'un ensemble d'attitudes et de comportements reli6s aux prioccupations interpersonnelles et i la solidariti intragroupe. A partir de donnCes recueillies auprks de plus de deux cents salariCs relevant de deux organisations, nous avons constat6 qu'un bon climat de travail engendrait une satisfaction professionnelle mCdiocre chez les individualistes, mais pas chez les collectivistes. En outre, en riitbrant la recherche ci-dessus, nous avons une nouvelle fois trow6 une corrClation positive entre le collectivisme et la satisfaction au travail, mais seulement parmi les membres des groupes b6bCficiant d'une ambiance sympathique.We hypothesised that whether a warm and congenial workgroup would produce employee satisfaction depends on its members' level of psychological collectivism, which is a syndrome of attitudes and behaviours related to interpersonal concern and ingroup solidarity. Using data collected from over 200 employees in two organisations, we found that a positive workgroup atmosphere resulted in low job satisfaction among individualists but not among collectivists. Furthermore, replicating previous research, we found a positive correlation between collectivism and job satisfaction, but only among members of congenial workgroups.Requests for reprints should be sent to Dr