Individualism, collectivism and reward allocation: A cross‐cultural study in Russia and Britain

Abstract

A study was conducted to examine the extent to which individualist–collectivist values were endorsed by Russian and British participants and the relationship between these values and allocation of rewards to self and co‐worker in a hypothetical scenario. It was predicted firstly, that the Russians would be more collectivist than the British in their orientation; secondly, that in reward allocation the British would be influenced only by levels of task performance while Russians would be influenced both by task performance and by the identity of their co‐worker as a friend or a stranger; and thirdly, that greater endorsement of collectivist values would be associated with a tendency to minimize personal gain in reward allocation. The first two predictions were supported by the data. In addition, qualitative data from group discussions is used to explain reward allocation decisions and to explore the specific ways in which Russian collectivism differs from British individualism.