Skip to main content
Log in

Looking for Assistance in the Dark: Pay Secrecy, Expertise Perceptions, and Efficacious Help Seeking Among Members of Newly Formed Virtual Work Groups

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Business and Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Adopting an information processing perspective, we argue that in pay-for-performance contexts, pay secrecy may adversely affect the ability of members of newly formed, virtual work groups to source assistance from those most able to provide it, referred to here as efficacious help-seeking.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We conducted a repeated-measures laboratory study in which one hundred forty-six participants interacted with three confederates, each with a varying level of skill. Participants’ help-seeking behaviors were recorded and efficacious help-seeking was examined as a function of the four pay transparency conditions.

Findings

Our findings reveal that accurate perception of task expertise of the highest paid work group member mediates the impact of pay transparency on members’ efficacious help-seeking. The findings also show that the positive relationship between pay transparency and efficacious help-seeking is amplified for average and high performers and that for these same individuals a shift from secrecy to transparency is accompanied by a significant increase in efficacious help-seeking.

Implications

This study extends pay secrecy research by shifting the focus away from fairness, instrumentality, and sorting and toward information processing. More specifically, the study highlights how pay and pay comparisons can influence inter-relating behaviors in organizations in general and expertise identification and help seeking behaviors in particular.

Originality/Value

We believe this is the first study to directly examine how the availability of pay comparison information determines inter-relating behaviors in organizations. The study offers insight for pay policy in organizations that rely upon employee help-seeking, showing that efficacious help-seeking can be enhanced through transparent pay practices. This is particularly evident in the virtual teams examined in the present study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Preliminary analysis tested and found no support for an alternative hypothesis, namely that pay transparency motivates all help-seeking and not necessarily only help-seeking from that team member with the greatest problem-related knowledge and competencies.

References

  • Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akerlof, G., & Yellen, J. (1990). The fair wage-effort hypothesis and unemployment. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 105, 255–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, C., & Kilduff, G. J. (2009). Why do dominant personalities attain influence in face-to-face groups? The competence-signaling effects of trait dominance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 491–503.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, C. A., Lindsay, A. J., & Bushman, B. J. (1999). Research in the psychological laboratory: Truth or triviality? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 3–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anscombe, F. J. (1948). The transformation of Poisson, binomial and negative-binomial data. Biometrika, 35, 246–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balkin, D. B., & Gomez-Mejia, L. R. (1990). Matching compensation and organizational strategies. Strategic Management Journal, 4, 153–169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bamberger, P. (2009). Employee help-seeking: Antecedents, consequences and new insights for future research. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, 28, 49–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bamberger, P. A., & Belogolovsky, E. (2010). Pay secrecy and individual task performance. Personnel Psychology, 63, 965–996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bar-Haim, Y., Lamy, D., Pergamin, L., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (2007). Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and non-anxious individuals: A meta-analytic study. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 1–24.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bartol, K. M., & Martin, D. C. (1989). Effects of dependence, dependency threats and pay secrecy on managerial pay allocations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 105–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bauer, T. N., Bodner, T., Erdogan, B., Truxillo, D. M., & Tucker, J. S. (2007). Newcomer adjustment during organizational socialization: A meta-analytic review of antecedents, outcomes, and methods. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 707–721.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Belman, D., & Heywood, J. S. (1997). Sheepskin effects by cohort: Implications of job matching in a signaling model. Oxford Economic Papers, 49, 623–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belogolovsky, E., & Bamberger, P. (2014). Signaling in secret: Pay for performance and the incentive and sorting effects of pay secrecy. Academy of Management Journal, 57, 1706–1733.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. Transaction Publishers.

  • Bonner, B. L. (2004). Expertise in group problem solving: Recognition, social combination, and performance. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 8, 277–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonner, B. L., Baumann, M. R., & Dalal, R. S. (2002). The effects of member expertise on group decision-making and performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 88, 719–736.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borgatti, S. P., & Cross, R. (2003). A relational view of information seeking and learning in social networks. Management Science, 49, 432–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowler, W. M., & Brass, D. J. (2006). Relational correlates of interpersonal citizenship behavior: A social network perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(1), 70–82.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bunderson, J. S. (2003). Recognizing and utilizing expertise in work groups: A status characteristics perspective. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48, 557–591.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bunderson, J. S., & Barton, M. A. (2011). Status cues and expertise assessment in groups: How group members size one another up … and why it matters. In J. L. Pearce (Ed.), Status in management and organizations (pp. 215–237). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Card, D., Mas, A., Moretti, E., & Saez, E. (2012). Inequality at work: The effect of peer salaries on job satisfaction. American Economic Review, 102, 2981–3003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casciaro, T., & Lobo, M. S. (2008). When competence is irrelevant: The role of interpersonal affect in task-related ties. Administrative Science Quarterly, 53, 655–684.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casciaro, T., & Lobo, M. S. (2014). Affective primacy in intraorganizational task networks. Organization Science, 26, 373–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, K. (2006) The pulse of the profession: 2006–07, Salary Budget Survey. Workspan (September), 23–26.

  • Cohen-Charash, Y., & Spector, P. E. (2001). The role of justice in organizations: A meta-analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 86, 287–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colella, A., Paetzold, R. L., Zardkoohi, A., & Wesson, M. J. (2007). Exposing pay secrecy. Academy of Management Review, 32, 55–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colquitt, J. A. (2008). From the editors publishing laboratory research in AMJ: A question of when, not if. Academy of Management Journal, 51, 616–620.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornally, N., & McCarthy, G. (2011). Help-seeking behaviour for the treatment of chronic pain. British Journal of Community Nursing, 16, 90. Retrieved from http://www.bjcn.co.uk/.

  • Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31, 874–900.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cross, R., & Borgatti, S. P. (2004). The ties that share: Relational characteristics that facilitate information seeking. Social Capital and Information Technology, 137–161. Retrieved from http://web.worldbank.org.

  • Emerson, R. M. (1976). Social exchange theory. Annual Review of Sociology, 2, 335–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Falk, A., & Fehr, E. (2003). Why labour market experiments? Labour Economics, 10, 399–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Falk, A., & Heckman, J. (2009). Lab experiments are a major source of knowledge in the social sciences. Science, 326, 535–538.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7, 117–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flynn, F. J., & Lake, V. K. B. (2008). If you need help, just ask: Underestimating compliance with direct requests for help. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 128–143.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frey, B. S., Schaffner, M., Schmidt, S. L., & Torgler, B. (2013). Do employees care about their relative income position? Behavioral evidence focusing on performance in professional team sports. Social Science Quarterly, 94, 912–932.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Furnham, A., & Argyle, M. (1998). The psychology of money. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Futrell, C. M., & Jenkins, O. C. (1978). Pay secrecy versus pay disclosure for salesmen: A longitudinal study. Journal of Marketing Research, 15, 214–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerhart, B., Rynes, S. L., & Fulmer, I. (2009). Pay and performance: Individuals, groups, and executives. Academy of Management Annals, 3, 251–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gouldner, A. W. (1960). The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement. American Sociological Review, 25, 161–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griffith, T. L., & Neale, M. A. (2001). Information processing in traditional, hybrid, and virtual teams: From nascent knowledge to transactive memory. In B. M. Staw & R. L. Sutton (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 23, pp. 379–421). Greenwich, CT: JAI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grundy, E. (2006). Ageing and vulnerable elderly people: European perspectives. Ageing and Society, 26, 105–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hackman, J. R. (2002). Leading teams: Setting the stage for great performances. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hertel, G., Geister, S., & Konradt, U. (2005). Managing virtual teams: A review of current empirical research. Human Resource Management Review, 15, 69–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofmann, D., Lei, Z., & Grant, A. (2009). Seeking help in the shadow of a doubt: The sensemaking processes underlying how nurses decide who to ask for advice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 1261–1274.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hollenbeck, J. R., Beersma, B., & Schouten, M. E. (2012). Beyond team types and taxonomies: A dimensional scaling conceptualization for team description. Academy of Management Review, 37, 82–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollingshead, A. B., & Fraidin, S. N. (2003). Gender stereotypes and assumptions about expertise in transactive memory. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 355–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR)/Rockefeller Survey of Economic Security. (2011). Pay secrecy and wage discrimination. Fact Sheet #C382.Washington, DC: Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

  • Jenkins, G. D., Jr, Mitra, A., Gupta, N., & Shaw, J. D. (1998). Are financial incentives related to performance? A meta-analytic review of empirical research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 777–787.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jokisaari, M., & Nurmi, J. E. (2012). Getting the right connections? The consequences and antecedents of social networks in newcomer socialization. In C. Wanberg (Ed.), The oxford handbook of organizational socialization (pp. 78–96). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, D., & Skarlicki, D. P. (2013). How fairness perceptions can change: A dynamic model of fairness. Organizational Psychology Review, 3, 138–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joshi, A. (2014). By whom and when is expertise recognized? The interactive effects of gender and education in science and engineering teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 59, 202–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking fast and slow. New York, NY: Farrar Strauss & Giroux.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., & Frederick, S. (2004). Attribute substitution in intuitive judgment. In M. Augier & J. G. March (Eds.), Models of a man: Essays in memory of Herbert A. Simon (pp. 411–432). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., & Frederick, S. (2005). A model of heuristic judgment. In K. J. Holyoak & R. G. Morrison (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of thinking and reasoning (pp. 267–294). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkman, B. L., & Mathieu, J. E. (2005). The dimensions and antecedents of team virtuality. Journal of Management, 31, 700–718.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, A., & Moosbrugger, H. (2000). Maximum likelihood estimation of latent interaction effects with the LMS method. Psychometrika, 65, 457–474.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kline, P. (1998). The new psychometrics: Science, psychology and measurement. Florence, KY: Taylor & Frances/Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozlowski, S. W. J., & Bell, B. S. (2003). Work groups and teams in organizations. In W. C. Borman, D. R. Ilgen, & R. J. Klimoski (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Industrial and organizational psychology (Vol. 12, pp. 333–375). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larkin, I., Pierce, L., & Gino, F. (2012). The psychological costs of pay-for-performance: Implications for the strategic compensation of employees. Strategic Management Journal, 33, 1194–1214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawler, E. E. (1965). Managers’ perceptions of their subordinates’ pay and of their superiors’ pay. Personnel Psychology, 18, 413–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawler, E. E. (1966a). Managers’ attitudes toward how their pay is and should be determined. Journal of Applied Psychology, 50, 273–279.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lawler, E. E. (1966b). The mythology of management compensation. California Management Review, 9, 11–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawler, E. E. (2003). Reward practices and performance management system effectiveness. Organizational Dynamics, 32, 396–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leventhal, G. S., Michaels, J. W., & Sanford, C. (1972). Inequity and interpersonal conflict: Reward allocation and secrecy about reward as methods of preventing conflict. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 23, 88–102.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, M. (2003). Are rich people smarter? Journal of Economic Theory, 110, 42–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, K., & Herndon, B. (2011). Transactive memory systems: Current issues and future research directions. Organization Science, 22, 1254–1265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lind, E. A. (2001). Fairness heuristic theory: Justice judgments as pivotal cognitions in organizational relations. In J. Greenberg & R. Cropanzano (Eds.), Advances in organizational justice (pp. 56–88). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Little, T. D., Preacher, K. J., Selig, J. P., & Card, N. A. (2007). New developments in latent variable panel analyses of longitudinal data. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31, 357–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, S., Wang, M., Bamberger, P. A., Shi, J., & Bacharach, S. (2015). The dark side of socialization: A longitudinal investigation of newcomer alcohol use. Academy of Management Journal, 58, 334–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd-Sherlock, P. (2006). Identifying vulnerable older people: Insights from Thailand. Ageing and Society, 26, 80–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Locke, E. A. (Ed.). (1986). Generalizing from laboratory to field settings. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Louis, M. R. (1980). Surprise and sensemaking: What newcomers experience entering unfamiliar organizational settings. Administrative Science Quarterly, 25, 226–251.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Major, B., & Adams, J. B. (1983). Role of gender, interpersonal orientation, and self-presentation in distributive-justice behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 598–608.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, H. W., Hau, K. T., & Wen, Z. (2004). In search of golden rules: Comment on hypothesis testing approaches to setting cutoff values for fit indexes and dangers in over generalizing Hu and Bentler’s (1999) findings. Structural Equation Modeling, 11, 320–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathieu, J., Maynard, M. T., Rapp, T., & Gilson, L. (2008). Team effectiveness 1997–2007: A review of recent advancements and a glimpse into the future. Journal of Management, 34, 410–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer, R. C., & Davis, J. H. (1999). The effect of performance appraisal system on trust for management: A field quasi-experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 123–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milkovich, G. T., & Anderson, P. H. (1972). Management compensation and secrecy policies. Personnel Psychology, 25, 293–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. T., & Ross, M. (1975). Self-serving biases in the attribution of causality: Fact or fiction? Psychological Bulletin, 82, 213–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moreland, R. L., Argote, L., & Krishnan, R. (1996). Socially shared cognition at work: Transactive memory and group performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, E. W., & Vancouver, J. B. (2000). Within-person analysis of information seeking: The effects of perceived costs and benefits. Journal of Management, 26, 119–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, J. S., & Kamdar, D. (2011). Why seeking help from teammates is a blessing and a curse: A theory of help seeking and individual creativity in team contexts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 263–276.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2012). Statistical analysis with latent variables. In Mplus user’s guide (4th–7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthen & Muthen. Retrieved from http://www.statmodel.com.

  • Nadler, A., Ellis, S., & Bar, I. (2003). To seek or not to seek: The relationship between help seeking and job performance evaluations as moderated by task-relevant expertise. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33, 91–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nahum-Shani, I., & Bamberger, P. A. (2011). Explaining the variable effects of social support on work-based stressor–strain relations: The role of perceived pattern of support exchange. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 114, 49–63.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Pitariu, A. H., & Ployhart, R. E. (2010). Explaining change: Theorizing and testing dynamic mediated longitudinal relationships. Journal of Management, 36, 405–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ren, Y., & Argote, L. (2011). Transactive memory systems 1985–2010: An integrative framework of key dimensions, antecedents, and consequences. The Academy of Management Annals, 5, 189–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rulke, D. L., & Galaskiewicz, J. (2000). Distribution of knowledge, group network structure, and group performance. Management Science, 46, 612–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Satorra, A., & Bentler, P. M. (1988). Scaling corrections for Chi square statistics in covariance structure analysis. In Proceedings of the business and economic statistics section of the American Statistical Association (pp. 308–313). Alexandria, VA.

  • Satorra, A., & Bentler, P. M. (1994). Corrections to test statistics and standard errors in covariance structure analysis. In A. von Eye & C. C. Clogg (Eds.), Latent variable analysis: Applications to developmental research (pp. 399–419). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spence, A. M. (1973). Time and communication in economic and social interaction. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87, 651–660.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, G. L., & Barrick, M. R. (2000). Team structure and performance: Assessing the mediating role of intrateam process and the moderating role of task type. Academy of Management Journal, 43, 135–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swim, J., Scott, E., Sechrist, G., Campbell, B., & Stangor, C. (2003). The role of intent and harm in judgments of prejudice and discrimination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 944–959.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van de Wiel, M. W., Van den Bossche, P., Janssen, S., & Jossberger, H. (2011). Exploring deliberate practice in medicine: How do physicians learn in the workplace? Advances in Health Sciences Education, 16, 81–95.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van den Bos, K., & Lind, E. A. (2002). Uncertainty management by means of fairness judgments. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 34, pp. 1–60). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van der Rijt, J., Van den Bossche, P., Van de Wiel, M. W. J., De Maeyer, S., Gijselaers, W. H., & Segers, M. S. R. (2013). Asking for help: A relational perspective on help seeking in the workplace. Vocations and Learning, 6, 259–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Der Vegt, G. S., Bunderson, J. S., & Oosterhof, A. (2006). Expertness diversity and interpersonal helping in teams: Why those who need the most help end up getting the least. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 877–893.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldman, M. (1984). Job assignments, signaling, and efficiency. The Rand Journal of Economics, 15, 255–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wegner, D. M. (1987). Transactive memory: A contemporary analysis of the group mind. In G. Mullen & G. Goethals (Eds.), Theories of group behavior (pp. 185–208). New York, NY: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wills, T. A., & DePaulo, B. M. (1991). Interpersonal analysis of the help-seeking process. In C. R. Snyder & D. R. Forsyth (Eds.), Handbook of social and clinical psychology (pp. 350–375). Elmsford, NY: Pergamon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodzicka, J., & LaFrance, M. (2001). Real versus imagined sexual harassment. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 15–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoon, K., & Hollingshead, A. B. (2010). Cultural stereotyping, convergent expectations, and performance in cross-cultural collaborations. Social Psychology and Personality Science, 1, 160–167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Z., Hempel, P. S., Han, Y., & Tjosvold, D. (2007). Transactive memory system links work team characteristics and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1722–1730.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Bamberger.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 4.

Table 4 Layout of the study design: the application of measures by time

Appendix 2

See Fig. 3.

Fig. 3
figure 3

An example of the graph viewed by participants assigned to the pay transparency condition

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Belogolovsky, E., Bamberger, P., Alterman, V. et al. Looking for Assistance in the Dark: Pay Secrecy, Expertise Perceptions, and Efficacious Help Seeking Among Members of Newly Formed Virtual Work Groups. J Bus Psychol 31, 459–477 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-015-9427-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-015-9427-4

Keywords

Navigation