“Can you hear me now?” – “Good” : examining the contributing role of voice in perceptions of justice & pay satisfaction in a pay-for-performance system

Abstract

This paper aims to reproduce the voice effect in a pay-for-performance (PFP) environment, ultimately to uncover how affective measures can be leveraged in analyzing the effectiveness of PFP programs. Historically, the effectiveness of PFP programs has been measured by readily available metrics like sales quotas or widgets produced such that effective PFP programs would increase the amount of sales or widgets produced. Using affective measures like pay satisfaction and perceptions of fairness can supplement objective measures in the future. 410 participants with a percentage of their pay involved in PFP participated in this study via MTurk. Employee voice was hypothesized to positively influence perceptions of pay system satisfaction and pay level satisfaction through the mediating effects of procedural (PJ) justice and distributive justice (DJ) respectively. Results yielded significant, positive relationships between voice, PJ, and pay system satisfaction as well as voice, DJ, and pay level satisfaction. Relationships were stronger the more pay the employee had that was variable in the PFP program. These findings suggest that employees are more likely to be satisfied with their pay and the amount of pay in the PFP program as their opportunity to voice their opinions about PFP increase.