组织公平是组织行为研究的重要课题。已有文献研究了员工与自己期望的收入、与同事收入、以及与高管收入的比较，却较少研究与直接上级比较的感受与结果。根据社会比较理论，人们有与略强于己的人比较的倾向。本项目旨在研究直接上下级收入差距对公平感知与工作行为的影响。“锦标赛”等理论认为层级收入差距越大，达到每层的“奖金”越大，从而促进员工绩效；“相对剥夺”等理论认为差距越大，报酬少的群体越觉得权益受到威胁，从而产生消极反应。本课题用社会认同理论整合貌似相反的理论观点，提出收入差异不仅有社会经济分配涵义，还有社会身份差异涵义，并提出收入差异作用是积极还是消极取决于一项关键的组织制度安排—向上流动性。向上流动性或升职可能性高，上下级收入差距大更可能产生激励作用；向上流动性或发展可能性低，上下级收入差距大更可能产生负面作用。项目综合运用问卷调查、实验室和田野实验等多种实证方法对研究假设加以检验。研究成果将拓展组织公平研究，为组织薪酬及晋升制度设计提供有意义的指导。

Organizational justice is a major topic in organizational behavior research. Past research examined the effects of pay gap as a result of comparisons with the employee’s own expectation, with peers, and with the CEO or top executives. However, we know little about the perception of and reaction to the pay gap between employees and their immediate supervisor. The current project aims to investigate the pay gap between immediate subordinates and supervisors and its impacts on justice perception and work behaviors. Economists, such as researchers on the Tournament Theory, generally argue for the positive effects of large pay gaps between organizational levels, contending that compensation differentials between levels are like prizes awarded to the winners that incentivize employees to behave more constructively. Social psychologists, such as researchers on Relative Deprivation Theory, generally argue for the negative effects of large pay gaps, contending that the between-level differentials are perceived as indicating the low entitlement or deservingness of members at the lower levels and impairing the sense of justice. By integrating these seemingly contradictory arguments, we propose that which mechanism is more effective depends on a key institutional characteristic of the organization – upward mobility. When upward mobility is high or the possibility to be promoted is high, large between-level pay gaps tend to be motivating and bring about constructive outcomes; when upward mobility is low or the chance to get individual development is low, large gaps tend to be demotivating and bring about destructive outcomes. We examine the proposals by integrating diverse empirical methodologies such as survey, lab experiments, and field experiments. The research findings will greatly extend organizational justice research and provide meaningful practical guidance for organizations on incentive system design.