Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial/Organizational Psychology (PhD)

Department

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

First Advisor/Committee Member

Helen Chung

Second Advisor/Committee Member

Jorge Lumbreras

Third Advisor/Committee Member

Liz Pavese

Keywords

pay transparency, under-met pay standing expectations, fairness, justice sensitivity, gender, turnover intentions

Abstract

Pay transparency is becoming more commonplace within U.S. organizations, due to the enactment of state pay transparency laws attempting to reduce the gender wage gap and broader calls for greater transparency in organizations. While transparency may be ideal, its effects on employee attitudes and behaviors are unclear. This study explored a potential unintended outcome of pay transparency, employee turnover, by examining how fairness perceptions mediate the justified under-met pay standing expectations and employees’ turnover intentions relationship, while investigating gender and justice sensitivity as moderators. A sample of 426 participants experienced an organizational shift from pay secrecy to pay transparency and then were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a scenario with unjustified under-met pay standing expectations, a scenario with justified under-met pay standing expectations, or a scenario with justified under-met pay standing expectations on a male-dominant team. Results indicate that providing an organizational rationale justifying pay differences increases perceptions of fairness, which subsequently mediates the relationship between justified under-met pay standing expectations and reduced turnover intentions. However, neither justice sensitivity nor gender moderated this indirect effect. Gender also did not moderate the justified under-met pay standing expectations–perceptions of fairness relationship, even when participants were members of a male-dominant team. Qualitative analysis of participants’ evaluations of the pay standing factors provided insights into how employees form perceptions of whether their pay standing is justified. The implications of this research extend beyond theoretical contributions, offering organizations practical strategies for implementing pay transparency while minimizing the unintended negative consequence of employee turnover.

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