The Effect of Perceived Pay Equity on Counterproductive Work Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Organizational Cynicism

Abstract

The influence of pay equity perception has been ignored largely in the human resource literature so far. The aim of this study was to fill this gap by investigating the effect of perceived pay equity on counterproductive work behaviors and whether organizational cynicism had mediating role on this effect. Data were gathered via e-mail survey from 252 white-collar employees working at various private companies in Istanbul. In data analysis, besides the frequency distributions of demographic variables, correlation and regression analyzes were also used. The results of the study demonstrated that organizational cynicism did not play a mediating role, since pay equity did not affect counterproductive work behaviors. However, it has been observed that perceived pay equity affected organizational cynicism negatively and organizational cynicism also affected counterproductive work behaviors positively. In addition to these, it was determined that pay equity, CWBs and organizational cynicism showed a significant difference according to some demographic characteristics. Various theoretical and practical implications were presented in the discussion and conclusions section of the research.