Modifiers of the equity effect: Group outcome and causes for individual performance.

Department of SociologyUniversity of Maryland, College ParkIn this article we use vignettes to investigate the implementation of an equityallocation scheme (to each according to contribution) for distributing rewards togroup members working independently on a collective task. The equity hypothesisis that information about individual contribution leads to an unequal (but equitable)division of rewards. Group outcome (success or failure) and an individual's standingon potential causes for performance outcome (ability, task difficulty, effort, andluck) were expected to modify the subjects' use of an equity allocation scheme.The results of two experiments supported the hypotheses. Target persons receivedmore rewards when they contributed more (the equity effect). In an interactionbetween contribution and group outcome, this effect was heightened when thegroup failed. Target persons with more ability (Experiment 1 only), more effort,and a more difficult task were rewarded more. Finally, both studies showed animbalance in the implementation of equity, in that the amount given to highcontributors was disproportionately greater than that withheld from equally polarizedlow contributors. The persistence of this phenomenon across design differencessuggests that the imbalance may be due to a perceived differential impact of highand low contributions.Allocating rewards for individual contri-butions to a group task is a problem found inmany different social settings. Teachers, par-ents, peers, and work supervisors frequentlymust decide how to distribute finite (and per-haps scarce) rewards among the group mem-bers. Because individual contributions vary indegree and kind, it may become necessary todecide on a reward allocation procedure thattakes into account these differences. In par-ticular, allocators may want to consider thegroup's final outcome, individual contribu-tions to the group performance, and potentialreasons for these contributions in choosing anallocation scheme. In this article, we investi-gate the effects of these factors on allocationsto a target member in a group effort; we ex-