Effects of Pay Transparency on Employees, Establishments, and the Gender Pay Gap

机构和企业的薪酬制度是管理学和经济学领域的一个中心研究课题。在过去的几年里，薪酬透明度和薪酬透明度的影响受到了广泛的关注。为了促进德国企业更透明的薪酬体系，德国政府通过了《德国企业薪酬制度》(Gesetz zur Förderung der EntgltTransparenz Zwitchen Frauen und Männern，简称EntgltTransparenzgesetz或EntgTranspG)。EntgTranspG于2017年7月6日通过，并于半年后，即2018年1月6日生效。它赋予雇员超过200人的机构的雇员有权要求适当参考群体的中位数工资水平。像EntgTranspG这样的法规是基于这样的假设，即不透明会导致薪酬不平等，刺激薪酬歧视，最终导致性别薪酬差距。尽管有一些实验室研究分析了薪酬透明度对员工的影响，但令人惊讶的是，很少有研究分析薪酬透明度在该领域的影响，以及薪酬透明度如何影响机构和公司、薪酬制度、薪酬歧视和性别薪酬差距。因此，本项目旨在为以下问题做出贡献：薪酬透明度对员工态度和行为有何影响？薪酬透明度对薪酬制度的结构以及用于确定机构和公司的薪酬和薪酬水平的程序有何影响？薪酬透明度对薪酬歧视和性别薪酬差距有何影响？为了回答这些问题，我们打算利用EntgTranspG的实施在现场进行准实验研究。在这个准实验设置中，规模低于201名员工门槛的机构为控制组，高于门槛的机构为试验组。这个项目具有很大的管理、经济和政治意义，有可能极大地促进我们对薪酬制度运作和薪酬透明度的理解。

Compensation or pay systems in establishments and firms are a central research topic in the fields of management and economics. In the last years, pay transparency and the effects of pay transparency have received widespread attention. To foster more transparent pay systems in German establishments, the German government has passed the “Gesetz zur Förderung der Entgelttransparenz zwischen Frauen und Männern (Entgelttransparenzgesetz, or EntgTranspG)“. The EntgTranspG was passed on July 6, 2017, and has become effective half a year later, on January 6, 2018. It grants employees in establishments with more than 200 employees the right to ask for the median pay level of a suitable reference group. Regulations like the EntgTranspG are based on the assumption that intransparency leads to pay inequality, spurs pay discrimination, and finally results in a gender pay gap. Although there are a few laboratory studies that have analyzed the effects of pay transparency on employees, there is a surprising dearth of studies that analyze pay transparency effects in the field, and how pay transparency effects establishments and firms, pay systems, pay discrimination, and the gender pay gap. Therefore, the current project aims to contribute to the following questions: What are the effects of pay transparency on employee attitudes and behaviors? What are the effects of pay transparency on the structure of pay systems and the procedures that are used for determining pay and pay levels in establishments and firms? What are the effects of pay transparency on pay discrimination and the gender pay gap?To answer these questions, we aim at employing the implementation of the EntgTranspG for a quasi-experimental study in the field. In this quasi-experimental setting, establishments below the size threshold of 201 employees form the control group, whereas establishments above the threshold are the treatment group. This project has a large managerial, economic, and political relevance, and the potential to significantly contribute to our understanding of pay system functioning and pay transparency in specific.