Pay Information Disclosure: Review and Recommendations for Research Spanning the Pay Secrecy–Pay Transparency Continuum

Abstract

The amount and type of pay information made available by organizations to employees and between employees can have important effects on employee attitudes and behaviors as well as organizational performance. Although a large body of research on pay information exists, on topics ranging from pay transparency to pay secrecy, researchers have used inconsistent definitions (pay secrecy, openness, transparency, pay communications) and operationalizations that hinder knowledge development. In this paper, consistent with the theory of information asymmetry and based on research reviewed here, we promote a new integrative definition (“pay information disclosure”) that anchors both current and future..