Abstract
“Comparable worth” is a controversial compensation strategy. In this paper, research issues that arise when employers perform point-based job evaluations, but deviate from them because of “market” factors, are discussed. Greater research attention to the actual operation of markets and to the consequences of conflicts in equity perceptions is encouraged.
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Marcia P. Miceli is Associate Professor of Management and Human Resources at Ohio State University. Her research interests are in the areas of compensation administration, professional dissent and whistle-blowing, and employee selection and recruitment. Her previous works in these areas have been published in Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Journal of Business Ethics.
John D. Blackburn is Associate Professor at the College of Business at Ohio State University. He has won the Best Article Award — American Business Law Journal. He is the co-author (with Julius Getman) of Labor Relations: Law, Practice and Policy.
Stephen L. Mangum is Assistant Professor of Management and Human Resources at Ohio State University. His research has been in the areas of economic development, employment and training programs, pay equity, and military manpower and has appeared in such journals as Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector, Armed Forces and Society and Challenge. He is author (with Dr. C. Y. Hsieh) of A Search for Synthesis in Economic Theory (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1986).
An earlier version of this paper was presented at a meeting of the Academy of Management. The authors thank Jerry Greenberg and Arnon Reichers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft.
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Miceli, M.P., Blackburn, J. & Mangum, S. Employers' pay practices and potential responses to “comparable worth” litigation an identification of research issues. J Bus Ethics 7, 347–358 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382537
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382537