IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v142y2017i1d10.1007_s10551-015-2762-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Management and Income Inequality: A Review and Conceptual Framework

Author

Listed:
  • Brent D. Beal

    (The University of Texas at Tyler)

  • Marina Astakhova

    (The University of Texas at Tyler)

Abstract

Income inequality in the US has now reached levels not seen since the 1920s. Management, as a field of scholarly inquiry, has the potential to contribute in significant ways to our understanding of recent inequality trends. We review and assess recent research, both in the management literature and in other fields. We then delineate a conceptual framework that highlights the mechanisms through which business practice (and, indirectly, business pedagogy and scholarship) may be linked to income inequality. We then outline four general areas in which management scholars are uniquely positioned to contribute to ongoing research: (1) data and description, (2) organizational dynamics, (3) collective action, and (4) value flows and tradeoffs. To stimulate future research, we highlight a number of relevant research questions and link these questions to existing management research streams that could be leveraged to address them.

Suggested Citation

  • Brent D. Beal & Marina Astakhova, 2017. "Management and Income Inequality: A Review and Conceptual Framework," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 1-23, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:142:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2762-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2762-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-015-2762-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-015-2762-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. R. Edward Freeman, 2010. "Managing for Stakeholders: Trade-offs or Value Creation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 7-9, August.
    2. Congressional Budget Office, 2011. "Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007," Reports 42729, Congressional Budget Office.
    3. DiPrete, Thomas A. & Goux, Dominique & Maurin, Eric & Quesnel-Vallée, Amélie, 2003. "Work and pay in flexible and regulated labor markets: A generalized perspective on institutional evolution and inequality trends in Europe and the US," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment SP I 2003-109, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    4. Andreas Georg Scherer & Guido Palazzo & David Seidl, 2013. "Managing Legitimacy in Complex and Heterogeneous Environments: Sustainable Development in a Globalized World," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 259-284, March.
    5. James B. Wade & Charles A. O'Reilly & Timothy G. Pollock, 2006. "Overpaid CEOs and Underpaid Managers: Fairness and Executive Compensation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(5), pages 527-544, October.
    6. Ingo Pies & Markus Beckmann & Stefan Hielscher, 2010. "Value Creation, Management Competencies, and Global Corporate Citizenship: An Ordonomic Approach to Business Ethics in the Age of Globalization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 94(2), pages 265-278, June.
    7. Cassel, Douglass, 2001. "Human Rights and Business Responsibilities in the Global Marketplace," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 261-274, April.
    8. Simon Kuznets & Elizabeth Jenks, 1953. "Shares of Upper Income Groups in Income and Savings (1953)," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number kuzn53-1, March.
    9. Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2003. "Income Inequality in the United States, 1913–1998," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 1-41.
    10. Congressional Budget Office, 2011. "Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007," Reports 42729, Congressional Budget Office.
    11. Brian Simpson, 2009. "Wealth and Income Inequality: An Economic and Ethical Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 89(4), pages 525-538, November.
    12. Katz, Michael L & Shapiro, Carl, 1986. "Technology Adoption in the Presence of Network Externalities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 822-841, August.
    13. Simon Kuznets & Elizabeth Jenks, 1953. "Shares of Upper Income Groups in Savings," NBER Chapters, in: Shares of Upper Income Groups in Income and Savings (1953), pages 171-218, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Elinor Ostrom, 2010. "Analyzing collective action," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(s1), pages 155-166, November.
    15. Janusz R. Mrozek, 1999. "Market Failures and Efficiency in the Principles Course," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(4), pages 411-419, December.
    16. Phyllis A. Siegel & Donald C. Hambrick, 2005. "Pay Disparities Within Top Management Groups: Evidence of Harmful Effects on Performance of High-Technology Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(3), pages 259-274, June.
    17. Scherer, Andreas Georg & Palazzo, Guido & Baumann, Dorothée, 2006. "Global Rules and Private Actors: Toward a New Role of the Transnational Corporation in Global Governance," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(4), pages 505-532, October.
    18. Antonio‐Rafael Ramos‐Rodríguez & José Ruíz‐Navarro, 2004. "Changes in the intellectual structure of strategic management research: a bibliometric study of the Strategic Management Journal, 1980–2000," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(10), pages 981-1004, October.
    19. Frank Hond & Kathleen A. Rehbein & Frank G. A. Bakker & Hilde Kooijmans-van Lankveld, 2014. "Playing on Two Chessboards: Reputation Effects between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Political Activity (CPA)," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(5), pages 790-813, July.
    20. Thomas Lemieux, 2008. "The changing nature of wage inequality," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 21(1), pages 21-48, January.
    21. Frederick Solt, 2008. "Economic Inequality and Democratic Political Engagement," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(1), pages 48-60, January.
    22. Isabelle Szmigin & Robert Rutherford, 2013. "Shared Value and the Impartial Spectator Test," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 114(1), pages 171-182, April.
    23. Jon Bakija & Adam Cole & Bradley Heim, 2008. "Jobs and Income Growth of Top Earners and the Causes of Changing Income Inequality: Evidence from U.S. Tax Return Data," Department of Economics Working Papers 2010-22, Department of Economics, Williams College, revised Jan 2012.
    24. Gerard George & Anita M. McGahan & Jaideep Prabhu, 2012. "Innovation for Inclusive Growth: Towards a Theoretical Framework and a Research Agenda," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 661-683, June.
    25. Levy, Frank & Murnane, Richard J, 1992. "U.S. Earnings Levels and Earnings Inequality: A Review of Recent Trends and Proposed Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 30(3), pages 1333-1381, September.
    26. Mukesh Sud & Craig VanSandt, 2011. "Of Fair Markets and Distributive Justice," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 131-142, February.
    27. Michael Faulkender & Dalida Kadyrzhanova & N. Prabhala & Lemma Senbet, 2010. "Executive Compensation: An Overview of Research on Corporate Practices and Proposed Reforms," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 107-118, January.
    28. Congressional Budget Office, 2011. "Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007," Reports 42729, Congressional Budget Office.
    29. Kawachi, Ichiro & Kennedy, Bruce P., 1997. "The relationship of income inequality to mortality: Does the choice of indicator matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 1121-1127, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Audenaert, Mieke & Decramer, Adelien & George, Bert, 2021. "How to foster employee quality of life: The role of employee performance management and authentic leadership," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    2. Farah Zamir & Abubakr Saeed, 2020. "Location matters: Impact of geographical proximity to financial centers on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in emerging economies," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 263-295, March.
    3. Mieke Audenaert & Beatrice Heijden & Neil Conway & Saskia Crucke & Adelien Decramer, 2020. "Vulnerable Workers’ Employability Competences: The Role of Establishing Clear Expectations, Developmental Inducements, and Social Organizational Goals," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 166(3), pages 627-641, October.
    4. Robert E. Till & Mary Beth Yount, 2019. "Governance and Incentives: Is It Really All about the Money?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 605-618, October.
    5. Patricia Kotnik & Mustafa Erdem Sakinc & Dejan Guduras, 2018. "Executive compensation in Europe: Realized gains from stock-based pay," Working Papers Series 78, Institute for New Economic Thinking.
    6. Francesco Di Lorenzo & Mariarosa Scarlata, 2019. "Social Enterprises, Venture Philanthropy and the Alleviation of Income Inequality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 307-323, October.
    7. Arun Kumar, 2022. "Philanthropy and the Making of a New Moral Order: A History of Developing Community," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(4), pages 729-741, May.
    8. Joyce C. Wang & Lívia Markóczy & Sunny Li Sun & Mike W. Peng, 2019. "She’-E-O Compensation Gap: A Role Congruity View," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 745-760, October.
    9. Evgenia I. Lysova & Jennifer Tosti-Kharas & Christopher Michaelson & Luke Fletcher & Catherine Bailey & Peter McGhee, 2023. "Ethics and the Future of Meaningful Work: Introduction to the Special Issue," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(4), pages 713-723, July.
    10. Ateeq A. Rauf & Ajnesh Prasad, 2020. "Temporal Spaces of Egalitarianism: The Ethical Negation of Economic Inequality in an Ephemeral Religious Organization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 699-718, March.
    11. Sarah Hudson & Helena V. González-Gómez & Cyrlene Claasen, 2022. "Societal Inequality, Corruption and Relation-Based Inequality in Organizations," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 181(3), pages 789-809, December.
    12. Ali Alamdar Moghaddam & Hamid Mirzahossein & Robert Guzik, 2022. "Comparing Inequality in Future Urban Transport Modes by Doughnut Economy Concept," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-24, November.
    13. Arun Kumar & Hari Bapuji & Raza Mir, 2022. "“Educate, Agitate, Organize”: Inequality and Ethics in the Writings of Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 1-14, June.
    14. Felipe, Israel José dos Santos & Mendes-Da-Silva, Wesley & Leal, Cristiana Cerqueira & Braun Santos, Danilo, 2022. "Reward crowdfunding campaigns: Time-to-success analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 214-228.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sean E. Mulholland, 2019. "Stratification by regulation: Are bootleggers and Baptists biased?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 180(1), pages 105-130, July.
    2. Jeffrey Thompson, 2012. "Raising Revenue from High-Income Households: Should States Continue to Place the Lowest Tax Rates on Those with the Highest Incomes?," Published Studies revenue_peri_march5, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    3. Jonathan Fisher & David S. Johnson & Timothy M. Smeeding, 2015. "Inequality of Income and Consumption in the U.S.: Measuring the Trends in Inequality from 1984 to 2011 for the Same Individuals," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(4), pages 630-650, December.
    4. Warshawsky, Mark, 2016. "Earnings Inequality: The Implications of the Rapidly Rising Cost of Employer-Provided Health Insurance," Working Papers 06926, George Mason University, Mercatus Center.
    5. Andrew Kliman, 2015. "The Great Recession and Marx's Crisis Theory," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 236-277, March.
    6. Philip Armour & Richard V. Burkhauser & Jeff Larrimore, 2014. "Levels and Trends in U.S. Income and its Distribution: A Crosswalk from Market Income towards a Comprehensive Haig‐Simons Income Approach," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 81(2), pages 271-293, October.
    7. Elena Deskoska & Jana Vlčková, 2018. "The Role of Technological Change in Income Inequality in the United States," Acta Oeconomica Pragensia, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2018(1), pages 47-66.
    8. Richard V. Burkhauser & Jeff Larrimore & Sean Lyons, 2017. "Measuring Health Insurance Benefits: The Case Of People With Disabilities," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 439-456, July.
    9. Rebeira, Mayvis & Grootendorst, Paul & Coyte, Peter C. & Aguirregabiria, Victor, 2017. "Does rising income inequality affect mortality rates in advanced economies?," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 11, pages 1-23.
    10. Yan Lau & Harvey S. Rosen, 2015. "Are Universities Becoming More Unequal?," Working Papers 245, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    11. Christina Anselmann & Hagen M. Kr�mer, 2015. "Income inequality and top incomes: some recent empirical developments with a focus on Germany," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(6), pages 770-786, November.
    12. Thomas Blanchet & Bertrand Garbinti & Jonathan Goupille-Lebret & Clara Martínez-Toledano, 2018. "Applying Generalized Pareto Curves to Inequality Analysis," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 114-118, May.
    13. Bauluz, Luis & Bukowski, Pawel & Fransham, Mark & Lee, Annie Seong & López Forero, Margarita & Novokmet, Filip & Breau, Sébastien & Lee, Neil & Malgouyres, Clément & Schularick, Moritz & Verdugo, Greg, 2023. "Spatial wage inequality in North America and Western Europe: changes between and within local labour markets 1975-2019," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121290, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    14. Anthony B. Atkinson & Thomas Piketty & Emmanuel Saez, 2011. "Top Incomes in the Long Run of History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-71, March.
    15. Katherine Baird, 2014. "The US Safety Net in an Era of Middle Class Decline: Has it drifted from the poor?," LIS Working papers 617, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    16. Golan, Amos & Perloff, Jeffrey M. & Wu, Ximing, 2001. "Welfare Effects of Minimum Wage and Other Government Policies," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt0gb7h58q, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    17. Richard B. FREEMAN, 2010. "It's financialization!," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 149(2), pages 163-183, June.
    18. Thomas Blanchet & Ignacio Flores & Marc Morgan, 2022. "The weight of the rich: improving surveys using tax data," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(1), pages 119-150, March.
    19. Advani, Arun & Summers, Andy & Tarrant, Hannah, 2020. "Measuring UK top incomes," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 490, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    20. Zhang, Haiping, 2022. "Upstream financial flows, intangible investment, and allocative efficiency," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:142:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s10551-015-2762-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.