A Rising Tide Lifts Some Boats, but Leaves Many Others Behind: The Harms of Inequality-Induced Status Seeking and the Remedial Effects of Employee Ownership

Bratanova, Boyka; Summers, Juliette; Liu, Shuting; Vauclair, Christin‐Melanie

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-28856-3_5

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…In particular, an experiment by Cheng et al (2021) found that participants who were assigned to imagine working in an organization with high (versus low) income inequality were more vigilant of colleagues who they suspected would undermine their work performance. These findings may reflect that employees in more unequal work settings are focussed on improving their own individual pay and prospects rather than cooperating with colleagues to meet shared goals (Bratanova et al, 2019).…”

Section: How Pay-based Division Creates Organizational Dysfunctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such categorization, in turn, can reduce the tendency for employees to identify as members of the organization or perceive one another as fellow in-group members who share the same identity and goals (Haslam et al, 2000). Instead, the categorization of colleagues into the “haves” (winners) and “have nots” (losers)—based on their level of pay and seniority—can trigger unhealthy social comparison and workplace competition on the basis of pay (Bratanova et al, 2019; Cheung & Lucas, 2016; Jetten et al, 2017; Kraus et al, 2017; Walasek & Brown, 2015, 2016, 2019). Importantly, such intergroup dynamics within the workplace are likely to undermine organizational performance as it pertains to the ability for employees to work collaboratively towards shared organizational goals.…”

Section: How Pay-based Division Creates Organizational Dysfunctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A social identity analysis of how pay inequality divides the workplace

Tanjitpiyanond

Jetten

Peters

2022

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

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The present research examines why organizations with more unequal pay structures have been found to be characterized by a range of negative workplace outcomes. Drawing on the social identity approach, we propose that higher pay disparity can increase the comparative fit of pay categories whereby the organizational “haves” (the highest paid employees) and “have nots” (the lowest paid employees) are more likely to be categorized into distinct social groups. In turn, this can lead to poorer organizational functioning. In two studies, a field survey ( N = 413) and an experiment ( N = 286), we found that higher pay inequality increased the comparative fit of pay categories, which, in turn, was associated with lower superordinate (organizational) identification, higher perceived workplace conflict, higher leader toxicity, and lower perceptions of identity leadership (i.e., a leader who creates a sense of shared identity in the organization). Our research provides novel insights into how higher inequality affects employees’ categorization processes, thereby creating a psychological divide and contributing to organizational dysfunction.

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Section: How Pay-based Division Creates Organizational Dysfunctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: How Pay-based Division Creates Organizational Dysfunctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A social identity analysis of how pay inequality divides the workplace

Tanjitpiyanond

Jetten

Peters

2022

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations

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“…The authors concluded that it is necessary to emphasize specific group dynamics for different societies in terms of economic inequality and poverty. There are also studies explaining that an unequal socio-economic structure increases social comparison between individuals and groups, reveals competition, and some groups seek self-esteem [57][58][59]. It is seen that these studies which predict that economic inequality can have harmful psychological consequences focus on the importance of social comparison processes.…”

Section: Poverty As a Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Poverty and Social Psychology: The Importance of Integrative Manner

Polat¹

2022

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As one of the most important social problems in the world, poverty has been studied by various disciplines. Although poverty is a basic subject of economics, it has also become one of the prominent research fields of social sciences in recent years. Poverty also relates to many psychological processes and mechanisms just as in the other social problems in the world. It is assumed that the social-psychological approach to poverty may contribute to establishing different road maps in combating poverty. Therefore this study aims at contributing to poverty reduction efforts from the social-psychological point of view by providing an integrative review of the social psychological correlates of poverty based on the empirical findings. Also, by including arguments such as social identity, migration, ideology and social context in poverty studies to be conducted with a social psychological perspective, a contribution can be made to poverty reduction with multidimensional research methods.

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“…The recent COVID‐19 pandemic appears to have done little to arrest this trend, with the average salary for CEOs in certain sectors and countries growing between four times and 15 times faster than that of average employees (Turner‐Cohen, 2021; Ziffer, 2021). There is a small, but growing, body of work that suggests that, just as economic inequality is problematic for societies, this kind of pay inequality may be problematic for organizations (Bratanova et al, 2019; Shaw, 2014). For instance, the executive quoted above suggests that, in the presence of a large pay gap, the workforce may splinter into the high‐paid “haves” and the low‐paid “have nots” who are competing for their fair share.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pay inequality in organizations shapes pay‐based stereotypes

Tanjitpiyanond

Peters

Jetten

2023

J Applied Social Pyschol

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There is some evidence that organizations with higher pay inequality have more problematic social dynamics. The present research examines whether pay inequality introduces pay‐based intergroup dynamics and shapes the stereotypes of the highest‐ and lowest‐paid employees in the workplace. In two studies (a cross‐sectional survey N = 413, and an experiment N = 286), we found that greater pay inequality (actual or perceived) strengthened perceptions that the highest‐paid employees were assertive and the lowest‐paid were not. Indirect effects analysis suggested that this could be due, in part, to the increased tendency to perceive the highest and lowest‐paid employees as distinct social groups. We also found that greater pay inequality strengthened perceptions that the highest‐paid (but not the lowest‐paid) employees were immoral and unfriendly. Indirect effects analysis suggested this could be due, in part, to the increased tendency to assume that the highest and lowest‐paid employees have negative relations. Together, our research suggests that pay inequality shapes the dynamics and stereotypes of pay‐based groups in ways that could undermine organizational functioning.

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A Rising Tide Lifts Some Boats, but Leaves Many Others Behind: The Harms of Inequality-Induced Status Seeking and the Remedial Effects of Employee Ownership

Cited by 8 publications

References 79 publications

A social identity analysis of how pay inequality divides the workplace

A social identity analysis of how pay inequality divides the workplace

Poverty and Social Psychology: The Importance of Integrative Manner

Pay inequality in organizations shapes pay‐based stereotypes

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