Pay transparency

Arnold, Alexandra; Fulmer, Ingrid Smithey

doi:10.4324/9781315231709-11

Cited by 23 publications

(24 citation statements)

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“…When pay information is transmitted is also important (Arnold & Fulmer, 2018). Employees tend to find out about some aspects of their pay (e.g., level) at the point of hire via their employment contract (Bierman & Gely, 2004) but learn about other pay aspects (e.g., pay raises) only gradually when they are on their job.…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, organizations usually have more and better quality pay information than employees (Akerlof, 1970), creating a form of “one sided imperfect information” (Stiglitz, 1985: 24) or pay information asymmetry (Forssbæck & Oxelheim, 2014) with important outcomes for individuals (Bergh, Ketchen, Orlandi, Heugens, & Boyd, 2019; Costas & Grey, 2014), organizations (Cullen & Pakzad-Hurson, 2019), and societies (Kim, 2015; Rosenfeld, 2017). Consequently, interest in the concept of pay information disclosure (PID), the communication of relevant pay information between and among actors , is thriving among academics, practitioners, and politicians (Arnold & Fulmer, 2018). Such studies investigate employers sharing pay information with employees and employees sharing pay information with other employees both inside and outside of their organization.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pay Information Disclosure: Review and Recommendations for Research Spanning the Pay Secrecy–Pay Transparency Continuum

Brown

Nyberg

Striver

2022

Journal of Management

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The amount and type of pay information made available by organizations to employees and between employees can have important effects on employee attitudes and behaviors as well as organizational performance. Although a large body of research on pay information exists, on topics ranging from pay transparency to pay secrecy, researchers have used inconsistent definitions (pay secrecy, openness, transparency, pay communications) and operationalizations that hinder knowledge development. In this paper, consistent with the theory of information asymmetry and based on research reviewed here, we promote a new integrative definition (“pay information disclosure”) that anchors both current and future research. We define the concept of pay information disclosure (PID) as the communication of relevant pay information between and among actors. By viewing pay information disclosure research in an information asymmetry context, with its focus on the causes and consequences of unequal access to information, we can synthesize research that examines motives for and outcomes of PID for individuals, organizations, and society. Based on our review, we outline a research agenda that identifies research questions and methods to stimulate studies to better understand the role of pay information in the workplace and in society.

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Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pay Information Disclosure: Review and Recommendations for Research Spanning the Pay Secrecy–Pay Transparency Continuum

Brown

Nyberg

Striver

2022

Journal of Management

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“…Prior pay secrecy research has focused almost exclusively on the communication of distributive pay information, including pay scales and levels (Lawler, 1966, 1967), pay ranges for adjacent managerial levels (Milkovich and Anderson, 1972), pay ranges and midpoints (Mahoney and Weitzel, 1978), and salary minimum and maximums by position rank (Subbarao and deCarufel, 1983; for a recent exception, see Arnold et al. , 2018).…”

Section: Elucidating the Pay Secrecy Constructmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…employee restriction, Marasi and Bennett, 2016; transparency in pay process v . outcomes, Arnold et al. , 2018), the substitutability effect documented in the organizational justice literature suggests there is value in examining how these dimensions interact.…”

Section: Elucidating the Pay Secrecy Constructmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Procedural secrecy may be especially likely when individual variable pay is considered. For example, although half of the organizations surveyed by Arnold and colleagues reported transparency in the processes used to determine the elements of base pay, pay raises, and variable pay (at the team or organizational level only), only 40% reported transparency in communicating how individual variable pay is determined (Arnold et al. , 2018).…”

Section: Elucidating the Pay Secrecy Constructmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring secrecy in pay communication: a conceptual matrix

Holtzen

2022

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that clarifies the construct of pay secrecy.Design/methodology/approachParalleling organizational justice research, two continua of pay information – a distributive continuum about pay raise outcomes and a procedural continuum of pay raise processes – are crossed to produce a 3 × 3 matrix with nine distinct forms of pay communication.FindingsDrawing on the substitutability effect from the organizational justice literature, the matrix highlights the importance of considering how the communication of different types of pay information interact with one another as individuals form pay perceptions.Research limitations/implicationsThe matrix framework illustrates that not only information content shapes pay perceptions, but also the extent to which different types of pay information are communicated, and how these different types of information interact. As with any conceptual framework, the current manuscript is limited by a lack of empirical testing.Practical implicationsManagers should be cognizant of the many different ways in which pay information can be communicated. A call is made to reconsider the use of traditionally binary terminology (secret or not) in favor of more accurate descriptions of the nuanced ways in which organizations communicate pay information.Originality/valueThe value of the pay communication matrix lies in the nine unique forms of pay communication arising from the interaction of two different forms of pay information – distributive (outcomes) and procedural (process).

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The shift to pay transparency: Undermet pay standing expectations and consequences

et al. 2021

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This research examines the shift from pay secrecy to transparency and seeks to improve the understanding of previously unrecognized negative consequences on job satisfaction. Drawing on undermet expectations research, we propose that shifting toward pay transparency decreases job satisfaction among employees who encounter negative discrepancies between expected and revealed pay standing (undermet pay standing expectations). Using data from field and experimental studies, we tested our hypotheses that episodic envy mediates the effect of undermet pay standing expectations on job satisfaction and that this indirect effect is moderated by victim sensitivity. Study 1 results suggest that undermet pay standing expectations lead to the predicted decrease in job satisfaction through episodic envy. In Study 2, we surveyed employees of a technology company before and after their shift to pay transparency and found partial support for our hypotheses, suggesting that episodic envy mediates the negative effects of undermet pay standing expectations on job satisfaction only for those low in victim sensitivity. Study 3 supported our overall model by illustrating that low victim sensitivity strengthened the negative indirect effects of undermet pay standing expectations on job satisfaction via episodic envy in an experimental study. We then discuss the implications for theory and practice.

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Pay transparency

Cited by 23 publications

References 0 publications

Pay Information Disclosure: Review and Recommendations for Research Spanning the Pay Secrecy–Pay Transparency Continuum

Pay Information Disclosure: Review and Recommendations for Research Spanning the Pay Secrecy–Pay Transparency Continuum

Exploring secrecy in pay communication: a conceptual matrix

The shift to pay transparency: Undermet pay standing expectations and consequences

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