Socioeconomic Status and Employee Well-Being: An Intersectional and Resource-Based View of Health Inequalities at Work

Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES)—one’s objective economic and social standing—has the potential to yield critical implications for employee well-being. Despite the vast multidisciplinary literature on the topic, management scholars have historically treated SES as a control variable and have only recently begun to critically examine the role of SES at work. Because of this, relatively little is known about the role that work-specific factors play in the relationship between SES and employee well-being, as well as the role of the socio-environmental context (i.e., understanding who is more vulnerable to health inequalities due to demographics or the environmental contexts in which they operate). To integrate the study of SES more fully into management theory and research, we draw on resource-based theories to develop an organizing framework for reviewing and synthesizing the vast literature on this topic that spans multiple disciplines. In so doing, we unpack the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between SES and employee well-being, elucidating the role that work-specific mechanisms (i.e., job demands and resources) play in linking SES to well-being (and vice versa) and clarifying how these have the potential to amplify or attenuate the effects of SES on well-being. Further, we provide evidence for the role of the socio-environmental context in affecting the aforementioned relationships. We conclude with a critique of the literature, highlighting methodological limitations and opportunities for future research. Ultimately, our hope is for research in management and applied psychology to regard SES not merely as a nuisance variable, but as a subject meriting dedicated inquiry.