Following up on leads in the business literature, this study analyzes whether younger managers and professionals in state and local government are less loyal than their senior colleagues, and if so, whether merit pay can reverse the trend. The quasi-experimental research design tested for variation in organizational commitment that could be attributed to (1) age, (2) pay procedure, and (3) pay level. The experimental group received pay raises in merit increments, while the control group obtained salary increases in some other way. Correlation analysis revealed weak, but statistically significant effects of age, merit pay, and salary on the respondents’ loyalty scores, with one unexpected exception. Pay co-varied relatively strongly with the organizational commitment of older respondents in the experimental group.
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