Exposing Pay Secrecy

Pay secrecy is a contentious issue in many organizations and a controversial one in our society. However, there has been little scholarly research on this topic. We hope to address this void by exposing the complexity of pay secrecy as a construct. What are its costs and benefits? What factors affect the link between pay secrecy and the extent to which it is a cost or benefit? This article reveals the complexity of pay secrecy and, we hope, generates ideas for much new research in the broad management field.

[1]  E. Lind,et al.  When fairness works : Toward a general theory of uncertainty management , 2002 .

[2]  E. A. Locke,et al.  A theory of goal setting & task performance , 1990 .

[3]  J. Thibaut,et al.  Procedural Justice: A Psychological Analysis , 1976 .

[4]  Ian R. Gellatly,et al.  Affective and continuance commitment to the organization: Evaluation of measures and analysis of concurrent and time-lagged relations. , 1990 .

[5]  V. Vroom.  Work and motivation , 1964 .

[6]  Paul R. Milgrom,et al.  Economics, Organization and Management , 1992 .

[7]  James A. Brickley,et al.  Managerial Economics and Organizational Architecture , 1996 .

[8]  G. Leventhal,et al.  The Distribution of Rewards and Resources in Groups and Organizations , 1976 .

[9]  Charles M. Futrell,et al.  Pay Secrecy versus Pay Disclosure for Salesmen: A Longitudinal Study , 1978 .

[10]  Barry Gerhart,et al.  Compensation: Theory, Evidence, and Strategic Implications , 2003 .

[11]  H. Triandis.  The Self and Social Behavior in Differing Cultural Contexts , 1989 .

[12]  P. Anderson,et al.  MANAGEMENT COMPENSATION AND SECRECY POLICIES , 1972 .

[13]  David B. Balkin,et al.  Matching compensation and organizational strategies , 1990 .

[14]  W. Dugger.  The Economic Institutions of Capitalism , 1987 .

[15]  G. Leventhal,et al.  Inequity and interpersonal conflict: reward allocation and secrecy about reward as methods of preventing conflict. , 1972, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[16]  M. Banaji,et al.  The role of stereotyping in system‐justification and the production of false consciousness , 1994 .

[17]  A. Tversky,et al.  On the psychology of prediction , 1973 .

[18]  H. Wilke,et al.  How do I judge my outcome when I do not know the outcome of others? The psychology of the fair process effect. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[19]  Kevin R. Murphy,et al.  Understanding Performance Appraisal: Social, Organizational, and Goal-Based Perspectives , 1995 .

[20]  Aneil Mishra.  ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSES TO CRISIS: THE CENTRALITY OF TRUST , 1996 .

[21]  R E Miles,et al.  Organizational strategy, structure, and process. , 1978, Academy of management review. Academy of Management.

[22]  Donald E. Conlon,et al.  Justice at the millennium: a meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[23]  J. H. Davis,et al.  An Integrative Model Of Organizational Trust , 1995 .

[24]  H. Triandis.  Culture and Social Behavior , 2019, Cross-Cultural Explorations.

[25]  Miriam Dornstein.  The fairness judgements of received pay and their determinants , 1989 .

[26]  Edward E. Lawler,et al.  Secrecy about management compensation: Are there hidden costs? , 1967 .

[27]  L. Bierman,et al.  Pay Secrecy/Confidentiality Rules and the National Labor Relations Act , 2003 .

[28]  Dale T. Miller,et al.  Self-serving biases in the attribution of causality: Fact or fiction? , 1975 .

[29]  D. Ilgen,et al.  A Theory of Behavior in Organizations , 1980 .

[30]  Irene Padavic,et al.  Paternalism as a component of managerial strategy , 1994 .

[31]  Fritz Steele.  THE OPEN ORGANIZATION: THE IMPACT OF SECRECY AND DISCLOSURE ON PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS Fritz Steele Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1975. xiv plus 204 pp., $8.95, hardbound , 1975 .

[32]  R. Bies.  Interactional justice : communication criteria of fairness , 1986 .

[33]  H. Markus,et al.  Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. , 1991 .

[34]  B. Major,et al.  Role of gender, interpersonal orientation, and self-presentation in distributive-justice behavior. , 1983 .

[35]  E. Sundstrom,et al.  Privacy at Work: Architectural Correlates of Job Satisfaction and Job Performance , 1980 .

[36]  P. Klopfer,et al.  The Concept Privacy and Its Biological Basis , 1977 .

[37]  David B. Balkin,et al.  Toward a contingency theory of compensation strategy , 1987 .

[38]  E. Katz,et al.  Wage Secrecy as a Social Convention , 1997 .

[39]  Stuart S. Nagel,et al.  Procedural Justice: A Psychological Analysis , 1976 .

[40]  O. Williamson.  The economic institutions of capitalism , 1985 .

[41]  Charles L. Hulin,et al.  Alternative opportunities and withdrawal decisions: Empirical and theoretical discrepancies and an integration. , 1985 .

[42]  David B. Balkin,et al.  Compensation, Organizational Strategy, and Firm Performance , 1992 .

[43]  E. Lawler.  Managers' perceptions of their subordinates' pay and of their superiors' pay. , 1965 .

[44]  Vandra L. Huber,et al.  The Relationship Between Individual Inputs, Perceptions, and Multidimensional Pay Satisfaction , 1992 .

[45]  J. Burroughs.  Pay Secrecy and Performance: The Psychological Research , 1982 .

[46]  Bradley J. Alge,et al.  Goal commitment and the goal-setting process: conceptual clarification and empirical synthesis. , 1999, The Journal of applied psychology.

[47]  J. Case.  When salaries aren't secret. , 2001, Harvard business review.

[48]  Angelo S. DeNisi,et al.  A cognitive approach to performance appraisal : a program of research , 1996 .

[49]  L. Bierman,et al.  Love, Sex and Politics - Sure - Salary - No Way: Workplace Social Norms and the Law , 2004 .

[50]  J. Brockner,et al.  An integrative framework for explaining reactions to decisions: interactive effects of outcomes and procedures. , 1996, Psychological bulletin.

[51]  M. Jackman,et al.  The Velvet Glove: Paternalism and Conflict in Gender, Class, and Race Relations , 1994 .

[52]  John K. Butler.  Toward Understanding and Measuring Conditions of Trust: Evolution of a Conditions of Trust Inventory , 1991 .

[53]  Fred A. Mael,et al.  Social identity theory and the organization , 1989 .

[54]  K. M. Bartol,et al.  Effects of dependence, dependency threats, and pay secrecy on managerial pay allocations , 1989 .

[55]  Arthur Aron,et al.  Confusions of Self With Close Others , 2003, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[56]  J. Schuster,et al.  Pay Secrecy: Who Is For And Against It? , 1973 .

[57]  E. Lind.  Fairness heuristic theory: Justice judgments as pivotal cognitions in organizational relations. , 2001 .

[58]  P. Thompson,et al.  Secrecy or disclosure in management compensation , 1975 .