İşletme Fakültesi Araştırma Seminerleri|Örgütsel Davranış | Doç. Dr. Mahmut Bayazıt |

Tarih: 15.02.2024
Saat: 11:00-12:00
Yer: AB2 345

Konuşmacı: Mahmut Bayazıt - Sabancı University

Konu: Consequences of Competitive Compensation Systems: The Role of Workforce Gender
Composition

Özet:
Organizations often utilize competitive compensation systems with high pay differentials within and across organizational levels based on employee inputs and performance to attract talent, motivate individual effort, retain high performers, and increase organizational performance. Compensation scholars herald the near universal effectiveness of such competitive compensation systems for organizational productivity based on economic and psychological theories including agency, expectancy, and equity (Gerhart & Fang, 2014; Shaw, 2014). Critics, on the other hand, argue that such merit-based systems may have unintended consequences or downsides, including negative social comparisons, envy, social undermining, and mental health problems (Dahl & Pierce, 2020; Larkin, Pierce, & Gino, 2012; Li & Lu, 2022; Park, Park, & Barry, 2022). In the present study, we argue that claims for the superiority of competitive compensation systems are predicated on male-interaction norms and research conducted in male-dominated organizations. We propose a misalignment of dominant norms model to explain how workforce gender composition determines reactions to and effectiveness of competitive pay structures. Our model suggests that the misalignment between the dominant norms created by a competitive compensation system design, and the dominant norms of a female-dominant workplace could create hostile conditions for women, in turn decreasing their productivity. Our model draws on theory and research in: (1) gender role socialization and dynamics in same-sex groups (Lee et al., 2016); (2) ideal-worker norms (Reid, 2015), (3) double standards in evaluations and reward allocations (Foschi, 2000), and (4) stereotype threat in organizations (Steele, 1997). This theoretical foundation enables us to examine four behavioral mechanisms: (1) turnover rate, (2) labor actions, (3) voluntary training, and (4) absenteeism rate. Using employee-employer linked nationally representative survey data from 3050 workplaces (Statistics Canada, 2007) we find that each mechanism partially explains the negative productivity effects of misalignment between the dominant norms emphasized by a competitive compensation system, and those implied by a female-dominant workforce.