Employee Satisfaction Dependent on More Than Relative Pay
Coventry, United Kingdom – August 27, 2008 –
A new study in the journal Industrial Relations reveals that
employee well-being is dependent upon the rank of an individual’s wage
within a comparison group, as opposed to the individual’s absolute pay.
Gordon D.A. Brown, Jonathan Gardner, Andrew J. Oswald, and Jing Qian asked
undergraduates to rate how satisfied they would be with wages they might be
offered for their first job after college. Subjects expressed feelings about
each potential wage in the context of a set of other wages. Researchers also
analyzed data from 16,000 employees who reported on workplace satisfaction.
Employees did not care solely about their absolute level of pay. Workers
were more concerned with their income relative to the salary levels around
them in their workplace. Individuals were not just influenced by relative
income but by the rank-ordered position of his or her wage within a
comparison set.
“Our study shows how ordinal rank has a statistically significant effect
upon well-being” the authors conclude. “Results show that human well-being
depends in a particular way upon comparisons with others.”
_________________________________________________________________
This study is published in the July 2008 issue of Industrial Relations.
Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article may contact
journalnews@bos.blackwellpublishing.net.
To view the abstract for this article, please
click here.
Gordon D.A. Brown is affiliated with the University of Warwick and can be
reached for questions at
g.d.a.brown@warwick.ac.uk.
Corporate restructuring and downsizing, the changing employment relationship
in union and nonunion settings, high performance work systems, the
demographics of the workplace, and the impact of globalization on national
labor markets - these are just some of the major issues covered in
Industrial Relations. The journal offers an invaluable
international perspective on economic, sociological, psychological,
political, historical, and legal developments in labor and employment. It is
the only journal in its field with this multidisciplinary focus on the
implications of change for business, government and workers.
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