A social identity analysis of how pay inequality divides the workplace

Tanjitpiyanond, Porntida; Jetten, Jolanda; Peters, Kim

doi:10.1177/13684302221074550

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(94 reference statements)

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“…This is also supported with more recent empirical work. For instance, Tanjitpiyanond et al (2022a, 2022b) found that participants experienced, and expected, more social conflict between the rich and poor in society and within organizations when these contexts were more economically unequal. Furthermore, Gordils et al (2020, see also McGovern et al, 2021) found that in locations where there was a larger objective income gap between Black and White Americans, participants of both races perceived that there was more competition in their city.…”

Section: Consequences Of Economic Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

How living in economically unequal societies shapes our minds and our social lives

Peters

Jetten

2023

British J of Psychology

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In recent decades, the economies of many countries have produced increasingly unequal outcomes for the rich and poor. This economic trend has attracted interest from members of the media, public and political classes as well as researchers who are interested in its societal implications. While this research has traditionally been the purview of economists and sociologists, there has been a burgeoning growth in research that has sought to understand the psychology of economic inequality. In this review, we summarize this work, focusing on two major themes: (1) how people perceive the scale of economic inequality and appraise its significance, and (2) how living in an economically unequal environment shapes people's social lives. Together, this work affirms claims that economic inequality is 'the defining issue of our time' (Obama, 2013) with a great deal of destructive potential. We identify important questions that await further research attention.

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Section: Consequences Of Economic Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

How living in economically unequal societies shapes our minds and our social lives

Peters

Jetten

2023

British J of Psychology

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“…The presence of wage inequalities within organizational hierarchies, apart from being a reality for most organizational members’ daily lives, impacts individuals’ psychological processes [ 26 , 27 ]. For example, recent studies have shown that economic inequality in organizations influences intergroup relations by making wealth-based social categories more salient and by leading to a higher likelihood of the perception of conflicts in the organizations [ 28 ]. Hence, organizations are an interesting concrete setting in which to examine the consequences of perceived economic inequality [ 29 , 30 ], and our first aim was thus to conduct research in this setting.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What about diversity? The effect of organizational economic inequality on the perceived presence of women and ethnic minority groups

et al. 2022

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Economic inequality shapes the degree to which people and different social groups are perceived in stereotypical ways. Our research sought to investigate the impact of the perception of economic inequality in an organizational setting on expectations of social diversity in the organization’s workforce, across the dimensions of gender and ethnicity. Combining data from previous experiments, we first explored in one set of studies (Studies 1a and 1b; N = 378) whether the degree of economic inequality in a fictitious organization affected participants’ expectations of the representation of minority vs. majority group employees. We found that when we presented an organization with unequal (vs. equal) distribution of economic wealth amongst its employees to study participants, they expected the presence of men and White majority individuals to be larger than the presence of women and ethnic minorities. Second, we tested our hypotheses and replicated these initial effects in a pre-registered study (Study 2: N = 449). Moreover, we explored the potential mediating role of perceived diversity climate, that is, the perception that the organization promotes and deals well with demographic diversity. Findings revealed that an organizational setting that distributed resources unequally (vs. equally) was associated with a more adverse diversity climate, which, in turn, correlated with expectations of a lower presence of minority group employees in the organization. We concluded that economic inequality creates a context that modulates perceptions of a climate of social exclusion which likely affects the possibilities for members of disadvantaged groups to participate and develop in organizations.

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“…11The data sets that this study draws on also contribute to a recently published paper that explores different research questions (Tanjitpiyanond et al, 2023). The stereotype measures reported here have not been included in published work.…”

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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 social identity analysis of how pay inequality divides the workplace

Cited by 7 publications

References 52 publications

How living in economically unequal societies shapes our minds and our social lives

How living in economically unequal societies shapes our minds and our social lives

What about diversity? The effect of organizational economic inequality on the perceived presence of women and ethnic minority groups

Pay inequality in organizations shapes pay‐based stereotypes

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