Perceived Fairness of Pay: The Importance of Task versus Maintenance Inputs in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong
Document Type
Article
Department or Administrative Unit
Management
Publication Date
2009
Abstract
This study compares East Asians’ evaluations of task and maintenance inputs in reward allocation decisions and examines the effects that inequity in various types of inputs and rewards have on fairness judgements. Based on a sample of 587 employees from various organizations in Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea, we find that Hong Kong Chinese and South Korean employees are more likely to want their organizations and supervisors to emphasize maintenance inputs, while Japanese employees value task inputs in reward allocation. Results also show that there are significant country differences in fairness judgements associated with various types of inputs. For example, the positive relationship between pay level and perceived fairness of pay is significantly stronger when task contributions are high rather than low among Japanese employees but not among Hong Kong and South Korean employees. The concept of independent self-construal (similar to individualism at the societal level) seems to provide an adequate account of the country differences in choice of input preferences but not fairness judgements.
Recommended Citation
Kim, T.Y., Weber, T.J., Leung, K. & Muramoto, Y. (2009). Perceived fairness of pay: The importance of task versus maintenance inputs in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. Management and Organization Review 6(1), 31-54. DOI: 10.1111/j.1740-8784.2009.00173.x
Journal
Management and Organization Review
Rights
Copyright © 2009 Wiley & Sons
Comments
This article was originally published in Management and Organization Review. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.
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