Management and Organizational Studies Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-22-2019
Volume
4
Issue
1
Journal
Social Behavior Research and Practice
First Page
15
URL with Digital Object Identifier
10.17140/SBRPOJ-4-116
Last Page
20
Abstract
Aim Past empirical studies investigating the possible causes of the gender pay gap have focused on cognitive trait differences between males and females. While several researchers have concluded that personality (or non-cognitive) traits play a role in the pay gap, no definitive lists of personality variables have been discovered to explain the gender pay differentials. We explored whether self-entitlement may result in sex differences in expected salaries. Methods We surveyed 413 undergraduate students from an introductory university course studying management to investigate the possible relationship between employee entitlement and expected pay. The survey included two parts of questions asking about participants’ employee entitlement and expected pay for different occupations, which reflected potential careers from the management program. Results While the results showed some sex differences, there were only a few significant relationships between employee entitlement and expected pay. Conclusion Although entitlement correlated positively with some of the expected starting salaries, the results do not definitely explain the sex differences in pay as men and women scored higher on certain facets of entitlement.