Seniority-Based Reward Allocation in the United States and Taiwan

Despite the apparent pervasiveness of seniority as a basis for distributing group rewards, this variable has been relatively neglected by social scientists interested in allocation processes. Three experiments conducted in the United States and Taiwan examined the allocation of group rewards to individuals differing in seniority level, social-emotional competence, and task competence. The results demonstrated that in addition to merit-greater rewards being distributed to individuals with superior task competence and social competence-seniority level was a robust determinant of reward allocation. The results supported the proposition that seniority influences allocations in part because of the assumed covariation of seniority with competence, and revealed evidence of culture-specific values. Seniority, however, was a relatively pervasive determinant of allocation behavior among both American and Chinese allocators, regardless of recipients' social competence, task competence, and sex. Thus seniority appears to be quite a general normative basis for reward allocation