Reward allocation among Chinese high school students in Hong Kong

The present study examined the effects of personality and performance on reward allocation. The subjects were 89 Chinese senior high school students in Hong Kong. The results showed that the subjects would take into consideration the recipient's personality when they allocated reward to a relatively low performer. Personality factors were irrelevant, however, in the allocation of reward to a relatively high performer. Moreover, the subjects judged an allocation decision as more unfair when the allocation was intended to be a punishment for a worker with relatively low performance and a desirable personality than when the allocation was intended to be a reward for a relatively high performer.