Seminar (Dept. of Organization and Human Resources)

Theme：When Sunlight Dims Exposure: How Pay Compression and I-Deals Make Pay Transparency a Moving Target

Speaker：Man-Nok Wong (School of Business, Sun Yat-Sen University)

Time：2021-12-02 14:00

Address：Tencent Meeting、Room 1008, Mingde Business Building

Language：Chinese/English

Venue: Tencent Meeting https://meeting.tencent.com/dm/zboifjV68q4m 

Meeting ID：259 858 619

Password：1202

ABSTRACT：   

Drawing from Bernstein’s (2017) transparency-privacy model, we theorize that firm-level pay transparency elicits a multi-step process involving managers and employees that shifts the dispersion in remuneration from more to less observable forms, thus making pay transparency a “moving target”. We posit a serial indirect effect of pay transparency on firm-level rates of i-deal grants (a less observable form of remuneration) via variable pay compression and heightened rates of employee i-deal requests, with this indirect effect amplified in firms characterized by collectivist shared values. We test the role of managerial agency and collectivist shared values in the pay transparency-compression relationship in a simulation-based experiment, and then test the overall model in a time-lagged, multi-source field study using a sample of 111 medical device distribution firms. Our findings demonstrate that: (a) firm-level pay transparency is predictive of greater pay compression, (b) firm-level rates of i-deal grants are largely explained by this pay compression via its effects on rates of employee i-deal requests, and (c) this sequential effect is amplified in firms characterized by more collectivist shared values. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY：

Dr. Man-Nok Wong is an assistant professor in management at school of business, Sun Yat-sen University. His current research focuses on team processes, newcomer socialization and compensation strategy. He is also the coauthor of SRM_R, a web-based shiny app for social relations analyses.