TY - JOUR
T1 - Setting limits
T2 - Ethical thresholds to the CEO-worker pay gap
AU - Cervone, Carmen
AU - Scatolon, Andrea
AU - Lenzi, Michela
AU - Maass, Anne
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2024 Cervone et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2024/11
Y1 - 2024/11
N2 - In the discussion about wage inequality, principles of fairness and need for incentives are juxtaposed as opposing motivations for wage inequality acceptance. While previous literature focused on ideal inequality, in two correlational and one preregistered experimental study (Ntotal = 664) we tested the hypothesis of a threshold of inequality acceptance. Participants were asked to indicate what a Chief Executive Officer should earn, ideally (i.e., ideal pay gap) and at maximum (i.e., highest acceptable pay gap), given the wage of a worker. Results showed that individuals generally indicated higher values for highest acceptable than for ideal pay gaps. Study 2 also provides evidence for a minimum degree of inequality that is deemed necessary. Additionally, across studies men preferred and tolerated greater wage inequality than women. In conclusion, these studies provide evidence for a threshold of inequality acceptance and pave the way for new research on the cognitive and motivational underpinnings of attitudes towards economic inequalities.
AB - In the discussion about wage inequality, principles of fairness and need for incentives are juxtaposed as opposing motivations for wage inequality acceptance. While previous literature focused on ideal inequality, in two correlational and one preregistered experimental study (Ntotal = 664) we tested the hypothesis of a threshold of inequality acceptance. Participants were asked to indicate what a Chief Executive Officer should earn, ideally (i.e., ideal pay gap) and at maximum (i.e., highest acceptable pay gap), given the wage of a worker. Results showed that individuals generally indicated higher values for highest acceptable than for ideal pay gaps. Study 2 also provides evidence for a minimum degree of inequality that is deemed necessary. Additionally, across studies men preferred and tolerated greater wage inequality than women. In conclusion, these studies provide evidence for a threshold of inequality acceptance and pave the way for new research on the cognitive and motivational underpinnings of attitudes towards economic inequalities.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0311593
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0311593
M3 - Article
C2 - 39570912
AN - SCOPUS:85209934398
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 19
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 11 November
M1 - e0311593
ER -