Multiple salary comparisons, distributive justice, and employee withdrawal

Area of Science:

• Organizational Behavior
• Social Psychology
• Workplace Equity

Background:

• Salary comparisons significantly influence employee attitudes and workplace behaviors.
• The processing of incongruent internal and external salary comparison information is a complex and debated area.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how incongruent internal and external salary comparisons impact perceptions of distributive justice.
• To examine the subsequent effects on employee withdrawal behaviors (neglect, turnover intention, voluntary turnover).
• To explore the moderating role of employees' zero-sum construal of success.

Main Methods:

• Three studies were conducted: one quasi-experimental and two time-lagged field studies.
• Data were analyzed to test hypotheses regarding salary comparison incongruence, distributive justice, and employee withdrawal.
• The moderating effect of zero-sum construal was specifically examined.

Main Results:

• Incongruent salary comparisons showed that underpayment had a stronger negative effect on perceived distributive justice than overpayment.
• Perceived distributive justice was negatively associated with employee withdrawal behaviors.
• The impact of incongruent salary comparison information was more pronounced for employees with a lower zero-sum construal of success.

Conclusions:

• Underpayment relative to referents significantly impacts perceived fairness and drives withdrawal.
• Employee perceptions of fairness and subsequent behaviors are influenced by how they interpret salary comparisons.
• Understanding employees' zero-sum beliefs is crucial for managing the effects of salary disparities.