Perceptions of Gender and Seniority Wage Inequality and Individual Behavioral Reactions in the Organizational Context

Project Description

Aims and Central Research Question

We analyze perceptions of wage inequality based on gender and seniority and the resulting individual behavioral reactions. Some criteria that result in wage inequalities (such as work experience) are generally agreed upon and codified. Other more diffuse criteria (such as seniority within a firm), however, can lead to gender wage inequality. We aim to understand whether employees perceive wage setting based on gender and seniority as just or justified, taking the organizational setting into account. We also investigate employees’ behavioral reactions based on individual perceptions of inequality.

Background

Earlier research shows that men as well as women consider the gender pay gap to be just, or at least justifiable. This perception varies by context, and is stronger among people who experience gender differences in pay in their own occupations. What is missing, however, is a systematic analysis of how contextual factors influence employees’ perception of gender wage inequality. Moreover, a large body of empirical research finds that wages tend to increase with seniority (work experience being equal). In how far this is perceived and rationalized by workers in different organizational contexts is still little understood.

Methods

We conduct a vignette study among employees working in different organizational contexts. Employees are asked to rate the fairness of wages of fictitious colleagues with varying gender, work experience, seniority and job performance. We will draw a stratified sample of firms using the existing gender gap in gross wages, the share of women in management and the seniority premiums to draw a random sample of employees of these firms from administrative data.

Disciplines

Sociology, Economics

Starting Date

1 October 2019

Project Partners

Julia Lang (IAB - Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg)

Julia Lang received a degree in economics from the University of Regensburg in 2006. From 2007 to 2012 she worked as research assistant at TU Dortmund University and received her doctoral degree in 2013. Since January 2013 she has been a researcher at the IAB. Find more information about Julia Lang here.

Katrin Auspurg (Ludwig Maximilian University Munich)

Katrin Auspurg holds a full professorship in sociology (specializing in quantitative empirical research) at the Department of Sociology at the LMU Munich, Germany, since 2015. She earned a Diploma in Sociology from the LMU Munich (2006), and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Konstanz (2010). Previously, she was a professor at the Goethe-University Frankfurt. Prof. Auspurg investigates how inequalities in the labor market and the family intersect and reinforce each other. In addition, her current projects advance innovative experimental or survey methods that allow the testing of mechanisms that cause social inequalities or subtle forms of discrimination. Find more information about Katrin Auspurg here.

Literature

Publications

Brüggemann, O. (2023): Employees’ perceptions of co-workers’ internal promotion penalties: the role of gender, parenthood and part-time. European Societies, online first, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2023.2270049

Brüggemann, O., Hinz, T. (2023): Do women evaluate their lower earnings still to be fair? Findings on the contented female worker paradox examining the role of occupational contexts in 27 European countries. European Sociological Review, online first, doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcac073

Strauß, S., Brüggemann, O., Lang, J. (2022): From Her Perspective. The Work Context Shapes Women’s Views on Pay. In: Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” (ed.). In_equality magazine: Working Inequality, No. 04: 46-49.

Strauß, S., Hinz, T., Zubanov, N., Brüggemann, O., & Lang, J. (2022). Fair: Arbeiten in Deutschland. Exzellenzcluster "The Politics of Inequality" (Konstanz). Datenfile Version 1.0.0, https://doi.org/10.7802/2486

Hinz, T., Liebig, S., Brüggemann, Ole (2021): Gendered professions, gendered pay: The question of fairness. In: Cluster of Excellence “The Politics of Inequality” (ed.). In_equality magazine: Perception of Inequality, No. 02: 22-25.

Auspurg, Katrin, Hinz, Thomas & Sauer, Carsten. (2017). Why Should Women Get Less? Evidence on the Gender Pay Gap from Multifactorial Survey Experiments. American Sociological Review 82(1), 179-210.

Leuze, Kathrin & Strauß, Susanne. (2016). Why do occupations dominated by women pay less? How "female-typical" work tasks and working-time arrangements affect the gender wage gap among higher education graduates. Work, Employment and Society 30(5), 802-820.

Auspurg, Katrin & Hinz, Thomas. (2015). Factorial Survey Experiments. Sage Series: Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.

Leuze, Kathrin & Strauß, Susanne. (2014). Female-Typical Subjects and Their Effect on Wage Inequalities among Higher Education Graduates in Germany. European Societies 14(2), 275-298.

Hinz, Thomas & Gartner, Hermann. (2009). Geschlechtsspezifische Lohnunterschiede in Branchen, Berufen und Betrieben (1993-2006). Berliner Journal für Soziologie 19(4), 557-575.

Talks

Brüggemann, O., Lang, J. (2023): How Do Women and Men Expect Their Co-Workers to React to Perceived Unfairness of Wages? Evidence from a Factorial Survey Experiment among Employees in German Firms. Presentation at ECSR General Conference, Prague; Venice Seminar on Analytical Sociology: Theory and Empirical Applications at VIU, Venice (Poster)

Brüggemann, O., Hinz T., Lang, J., Strauß, S., Zubanov, N. (2023): Filling two needs with one deed: How reminders can improve reliability and validity of survey-based estimates. Presentation at Venice Seminar on Analytical Sociology: Theory and Empirical Applications at VIU, Venice

Diehl, C., Strauß, S., Lang, J. (2023): Between two paradoxes. Perceptions of (un-)equal wages among women and men. Presentation at Venice Seminar on Analytical Sociology: Theory and Empirical Applications at VIU, Venice

Brüggemann, O. (2022): Employees‘ Perceptions of Co-Workers’ Internal Promotion Penalties: The Role of Gender, Parenthood and Part-Time. Presentation at PopFest: 28th Annual Postgraduate Population Studies Conference at EUI, Florence; Venice Seminar on Analytical Sociology: Theory and Empirical Applications at VIU, Venice

Strauß, S., Brüggemann, O., Lang, J. (2022): Who Perceives Lower Wages for Women as Fair? How Fairness Perceptions of Men’s and Women’s Wages Vary by Firm and Workplace Characteristics. Presentation at In_equality Conference, Konstanz (Poster); ESA RC28 Spring Conference, London; ECSR General Conference, Amsterdam)

Brüggemann, O., Hinz, T. (2022): Do women evaluate their lower earnings still to be fair? Findings on the contented female worker paradox examining the role of occupational contexts in 27 European countries. Poster presentation at ESA RC28 Spring Conference in April 2022, London

Hinz, T., Strauß, S., Zubanov, N., Lang, J., Brüggemann, O. (2022): Bringing in the Context. How Firm Characteristics are related to Employees’ Evaluation of Fair Wages. Results from a Factorial Survey Experiment. Presentation at In_equality Conference, Konstanz