This study compares two pay evaluations: pay justice and pay satisfaction. Conceptually, pay justice entails a moral assessment and is more specific to work, whereas pay satisfaction is a broader attitude that includes non-work-related factors. We analyzed German employee data and found overall similarity in determinants but differences in proximity to work contexts. Pay satisfaction was more strongly associated with private pay comparisons and standard of living, whereas pay justice was more strongly associated with reciprocity in the employer-employee relationship through working hours and comparisons at work. The results therefore suggest that employers can influence pay justice more easily than pay satisfaction by means of addressing imbalances in the employer-employee exchange and within organizational pay structures.
AdamsJ. Stacy. 1965. “Inequity in Social Exchange.”Advances in Experimental Social Psychology2:267–99. doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60108-2.
2.
AdriaansJuleTargaMatteo. 2022. “Gender Differences in Fairness Evaluations of Own Earnings in 28 European Countries.”European Societies. doi:10.1080/14616696.2022.2083651.
3.
BalochQadar Bakhsh. 2009. “Effects of Job Satisfaction on Employees Motivation & Turn Over Intentions.”Journal of Managerial Sciences2(1):1–21.
4.
BerkowitzLeonardFraserColinTreasureF. Peter. 1987. “Pay, Equity, Job Gratifications, and Comparisons in Pay Satisfaction.”Journal of Applied Psychology72(4):544–51. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.72.4.544.
5.
BlauFrancine D.KahnLawrence M.2017. “The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations.”Journal of Economic Literature55(3):789–865. doi:10.1257/jel.20160995.
6.
BrownMichelle. 2001. “Unequal Pay, Unequal Responses? Pay Referents and Their Implication for Pay Level Satisfaction.”Journal of Management Studies38(6):879–96. doi:10.1111/1467-6486.00263.
7.
BuunkAbraham P.GibbonsFrederick X.2007. “Social Comparison: The End of a Theory and the Emergence of a Field.”Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes102(1):3–21. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2006.09.007.
8.
BygrenMagnus. 2004. “Pay Reference Standards and Pay Satisfaction: What Do Workers Evaluate Their Pay against?”Social Science Research33(2):206–24. doi:10.1016/s0049-089x(03)00045-0.
9.
CardDavidMasAlexandreMorettiEnricoSaezEmmanuel. 2012. “Inequality at Work: The Effect of Peer Salaries on Job Satisfaction.”American Economic Review102(6):2981–3003. doi:10.1257/aer.102.6.2981.
10.
ClarkAndrew E.D’AmbrosioConchita. “Attitudes to Income Inequality: Experimental and Survey Evidence,” in Handbook of Income Distribution, ed. AtkinsonAnthony BarnesBourguignonFrançois (Amsterdam: North Holland, 2015), 1147–208.
11.
ClarkAndrew E.KristensenNicolaiWestergård-NielsenNiels. 2009. “Job Satisfaction and Co-worker Wages: Status or Signal?”The Economic Journal119(536):430–47. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0297.2008.02236.x.
12.
ClarkAndrew E.OswaldAndrew J.1996. “Satisfaction and Comparison Income.”Journal of Public Economics61(3):359–81. doi:10.1016/0047-2727(95)01564-7.
SolbergCrawfordEmilyEdward DienerWirtzDerrickLucasRichard E.OishiShigehiro. 2002. “Wanting, Having, and Satisfaction: Examining the Role of Desire Discrepancies in Satisfaction with Income.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology83(3):725–54. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.83.3.725.
15.
DeutschMorton. 1975. “Equity, Equality, and Need: What Determines Which Value Will Be Used as the Basis of Distributive Justice?”Journal of Social Issues31(3):137–49. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1975.tb01000.x.
16.
DyerLeeTheriaultRoland. 1976. “The Determinants of Pay Satisfaction.”Journal of Applied Psychology61(5):596–604. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.61.5.596.
17.
GodechotOlivierSenikClaudia. 2015. “Wage Comparisons in and out of the Firm. Evidence from a Matched Employer–Employee French Database.”Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization117:395–410 doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2015.07.003.
18.
GouldnerAlwin W.1960. “The Norm of Reciprocity: A Preliminary Statement.”American Sociological Review25(2):161–78. doi:10.2307/2092623.
19.
HauretLaetitaWilliamsDonald R.2019. “Relative Income and Pay Satisfaction: Further Evidence on the Role of the Reference Group.”Journal of Happiness Studies20(1):307–29. doi:10.1007/s10902-017-9950-2.
20.
HomansGeorge C.1974. Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms. Rev. ed. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
21.
JassoGuillermina. 1978. “On the Justice of Earnings: A New Specification of the Justice Evaluation Function.”American Journal of Sociology83(6):1398–419.
22.
JassoGuillerminaRossiPeter H.1977. “Distributive Justice and Earned Income.”American Sociological Review42(4):639–51. doi:10.2307/2094561.
23.
JassoGuillerminaTörnblomKjellSabbaghClara. 2016. “Distributive Justice.” Pp. 201–18 in Handbook of Social Justice Theory and Research, edited by SabbaghC.SchmittM.New York, NY: Springer.
24.
JudgeTimothy A.LarsenRandy J.2001. “Dispositional Affect and Job Satisfaction: A Review and Theoretical Extension.”Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes86(1):67–98. doi:10.1006/obhd.2001.2973.
25.
JudgeTimothy A.WeissHoward M.Kammeyer-MuellerJohn D.HulinCharles L.2017. “Job Attitudes, Job Satisfaction, and Job Affect: A Century of Continuity and of Change.”Journal of Applied Psychology102(3):356–74. doi:10.1037/apl0000181.
26.
KaoAudiey C.JagerAndrew J.KoenigBarbara A.MollerArlen C.TuttyMichael A.WilliamsGeoffrey C.WrightScott M.2018. “Physician Perception of Pay Fairness and Its Association with Work Satisfaction, Intent to Leave Practice, and Personal Health.”Journal of General Internal Medicine33(8):812–17. doi:10.1007/s11606-017-4303-8.
27.
KimTae-YeolWangJieChenTingtingZhuYueSunRui. 2019. “Equal or Equitable Pay? Individual Differences in Pay Fairness Perceptions.”Human Resource Management58:169–86. doi:10.1002/hrm.21944.
28.
KittelBernhard. 2020. “Need-Based Justice: A Sociological Perspective.” Pp. 91–131 in Need-Based Distributive Justice, edited by TraubS.KittelB.New York, NY: Springer.
29.
LawlerEdward E.1971. Pay and Organizational Effectiveness. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
30.
LiebigStefanAdriaansJuleEisneckerPhillipHülleSebastianKlassenJulianSauerCarstenValetPeter. 2019. “Erwartungen an Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft – Legitimation of Inequality over the Life-Span, 2. Welle (LINOS-2).” DIW Berlin. doi:10.25652/diw_data_S0017.1
31.
LiebigStefanMayMeikeSauerCarstenSchneiderSimoneValetPeter. 2014. Erwartungen an Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. SFB 882. doi: 10.4119/unibi/sfb882.2014.9
32.
LiebigStefanSauerCarsten. 2016. “Sociology of Justice.” Pp. 37–59 in Handbook of Social Justice Theory and Research, edited by SabbaghC.SchmittM.New York, NY: Springer.
33.
LiebigStefanSauerCarstenSchuppJürgen. 2012. “The Justice of Earnings in Dual-Earner Households.”Research in Social Stratification and Mobility30(2):219–32. doi:10.1016/j.rssm.2011.12.004.
34.
MiceliMarcia P.LaneMatthew Colin. 1991. “Antecedents of Pay Satisfaction: A Review and Extension.” Pp. 235–309 in Research in Personnel and Human Resources, edited by FerrisG. R.RowlandK.Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
35.
SauerCarstenValetPeter. 2013. “Less Is Sometimes More: Consequences of Overpayment on Job Satisfaction and Absenteeism.”Social Justice Research26(2):132–50. doi:10.1007/s11211-013-0182-2.
36.
SauerCarstenValetPeterLiebigStefan. 2016. “Welche Lohnungleichheiten sind gerecht?”KZfSS Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie68(4):619–45. doi:10.1007/s11577-016-0385-2.
37.
ScarpelloVidaCarraherShawn M.2008. “Are Pay Satisfaction and Pay Fairness the Same Construct?”Baltic Journal of Management3(1):23–39. doi:10.1108/17465260810844248.
38.
SchiemanScottTaylorCatherine J.NarisadaAtsushiPudrovskaTetyana. 2020. “Underpaid Boss: Gender, Job Authority, and the Association between Underreward and Depression.”Work and Occupations47(1):44–82. doi:10.1177/0730888419885424.
39.
SchneiderSimone M.ValetPeter. 2017. “Relative Standards and Distributive Justice: How Social Comparison Orientations Moderate the Link between Relative Earnings and Justice Perceptions.”Social Psychology Quarterly80(3):276–87. doi:10.1177/0190272517708810.
40.
SchunckReinhardSauerCarstenValetPeter. 2015. “Unfair Pay and Health: The Effects of Perceived Injustice of Earnings on Physical Health.”European Sociological Review31(6):655–66. doi:10.1093/esr/jcv065.
41.
SmithHeather J.PettigrewThomas F.PippinGina M.BialosiewiczSilvana. 2012. “Relative Deprivation: A Theoretical and Meta-analytic Review.”Personality and Social Psychology Review16(3):203–32. doi:10.1177/1088868311430825.
42.
TremblayMichelSireBrunoBalkinDavid B.2000. “The Role of Organizational Justice in Pay and Employee Benefit Satisfaction and Its Effects on Work Attitudes.”Group and Organization Management25(3):269–90. doi:10.1177/1059601100253004.
43.
ValetPeter. 2018. “Social Structure and the Paradox of the Contented Female Worker: How Occupational Gender Segregation Biases Justice Perceptions of Wages.”Work and Occupations45(2):168–93. doi:10.1177/0730888417753048.
44.
WalsterElaineBerscheidEllenWalsterWilliam G.1973. “New Directions in Equity Research.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology25(2):151–76. doi:10.1037/h0033967.
45.
WilliamsMargarete L.McDanielMichael A.NguyenNhung T.2006. “A Meta-analysis of the Antecedents and Consequences of Pay Level Satisfaction.”Journal of Applied Psychology91(2):392–413. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.91.2.392.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
