Dissertation Prospectus
0 Strategic Points
10 Strategic Points
My degree is: Ph.D.
My program emphasis is: Psychology: Industrial and Organizational Psychology
Ten Strategic Points
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Broad Topic Area (12-15 words)
How female employees perceive bias in the performance appraisal process, and performance related pay
Gaps
Lit Review
Theoretical Framework
Themes
Background of the problem/gap
· Koskinen Sandberg, P. (2017), A major finding in the limitations of this study was that there was often a gap between the formal pay system and the realized pay system.
· Inesi & Cable (2015), suggests that a similar bias might emerge for other groups that are stereotyped as lower socioeconomic groups.
· Joshi, Son & Ron (2015), says that nearly five decades after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, academics and policymakers are still asking the question: Can women close the gap in performance and rewards in the workplace? The answer to this question based on our research is: Women often close the gap in performance, but not the gap in rewards.
· Bishu and Alkadry (2017), recommendations include an investigation of the gender pay gap across different levels of an organization. The wages at different levels within an organization vary substantially from one level to the other. Also, as stated, further research is needed to see how wage and gender interact, and whether the gender pay gap widens or narrows as women move from one level to another.
Review of literature topics with key theme for each one
i. Negative effect of competence signals on women’s performance evaluations
· There are theories that evaluators may see such competence signals as a threat to the traditional gender hierarchy, which leads to a negative bias when evaluating women’s on-the-job performance (Inesi & Cable, 2015)
ii. Intertwining gender inequalities and wage discrimination
· A related concept that captures the intertwining gender inequalities in formal wage determination practices is institutionalized undervaluation (Koskinen Sandberg, 2016b). Institutionalized undervaluation refers to how the undervaluation of women’s work is embedded in the formal structure of wage determination, such as collective agreements. Institutionalized undervaluation originates in the gendered understandings of appropriate wages for work conducted by men and women, that is, wages as a social practice. However, it has become a part of the formal structure and the gendered nature of the structure often remains invisible and unrecognized. (Sandberg, 2016)
iii Job Evaluation and equal pay
· Job evaluation has been regarded as a central method in determining work of equal value and one of the most important methods for promoting equal pay. There have been high expectations for job evaluation to make the undervaluation of women’s work visible. The use of job evaluation in the promotion of equal pay has been widely debated. Job evaluation is linked both to gender biases in wage determination when the job-evaluation system is discriminatory against women’s work and to the possibility of detecting the undervaluation of women’s work using a non-biased job-evaluation system (Sandberg, 2016)
Theoretical Foundations
· Social Role Theory: Social role theory (Eagly,1987) provides a theoretical explanation of how gender differences in perceptions are affected by work experience.
Themes
Bishu & Alkadry (2017), identified recurring themes that explain the gender pay gap in this systematic review, they are:
· Direct estimation of the gender pay gap,
· Disparity in access to workplace authority as a predictor of the gender pay gap,
· Access to hiring and promotion as a predictor of the gender pay gap
· Institutional gender representation as a predictor of the gender pay gap
Problem Statement
It is not known how female employees perceive bias in the performance appraisal process, and performance related pay
Research Questions
R1. How would female employees perceive bias in the performance appraisal process?
R2. How would female employee perceive bias in performance related pay
Population
Target Population
Sample
Female employees working for corporations in Pennsylvania
Female employees who are eligible for performance-based pay in fortune 500 companies
10 females that work for companies that fall within the fortune 500 category
Describe Phenomena (qualitative) or Define Variables/Hypotheses (quantitative)
Phenomena: How female employees perceive bias in the performance appraisal process, and performance related pay
Methodology & Design
Qualitative case study
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this qualitative case study is to understand how female employees perceive bias in the performance appraisal process, and performance related pay in a fortune 500 company
Data Collection Approach
· Focus Groups
· Interview 10 females from a fortune 500 company
· Request from Human Resources performance related forms and information related to performance related pay.
Data Analysis Approach
· Coding and Theming
· Descriptive Statistics
References:
Bishu, S. G., & Alkadry, M. G. (2017). A Systematic Review of the Gender Pay Gap and Factors That Predict It. Administration & Society, 49(1), 65–104. https://doi- org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/0095399716636928
DeNisi, A. S., & Murphy, K. R. (2017). Performance appraisal and performance management: 100 years of progress? Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 421–433. https://doi- org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/apl0000085.supp (Supplemental)
Eagly, A. H.(1987).Sex differences in social behavior: A social-role interpretation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Franke, G. R., Crown, D. F., & Spake, D. F. (1997). Gender differences in ethical perceptions of business practices: A social role theory perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(6), 920– 934. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/0021-9010.82.6.920
Inesi, M. E., & Cable, D. M. (2015). When Accomplishments Come Back to Haunt You: The Negative Effect of Competence Signals on Women’s Performance Evaluations. Personnel Psychology, 68(3), 615–657. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/peps.12083
Koskinen Sandberg, P. (2017). Intertwining Gender Inequalities and Gender-neutral Legitimacy in Job Evaluation and Performance-related Pay. Gender, Work & Organization, 24(2), 156–170. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/gwao.12156
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