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Learning about Pay at Work: A Labour Process Approach to Pay Transparency

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  • Fuk Ying Tse

Abstract

Using a labour process approach, this article examines how workers in three factories in China learnt about the workplace-level pay systems governing their employment relationships. By outlining the processes through which workers learnt about pay at work, this article sheds light on how workers, faced with a perplexing variable pay system and managerial control over pay disclosure, can overcome the pathways towards ignorance and ultimately challenge the workplace-level pay communication regime. It is shown that pay transparency, rather than being merely an outcome of managerial practices to improve employee motivation and organisational performance, is an outcome of dynamic and contested social interactions between management and labour.

Suggested Citation

  • Fuk Ying Tse, 2023. "Learning about Pay at Work: A Labour Process Approach to Pay Transparency," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 37(5), pages 1147-1164, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:37:y:2023:i:5:p:1147-1164
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170211070442
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xin Meng, 2012. "Labor Market Outcomes and Reforms in China," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(4), pages 75-102, Fall.
    2. Meng,Xin, 2009. "Labour Market Reform in China," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521121118.
    3. Danziger, Leif & Katz, Eliakim, 1997. "Wage Secrecy as a Social Convention," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(1), pages 59-69, January.
    4. Elfstrom, Manfred & Kuruvilla, Sarosh, 2014. "The changing nature of labor unrest in China," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65141, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Paul Thompson & Diane van den Broek, 2010. "Managerial control and workplace regimes: an introduction," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 24(3), pages 1-12, September.
    6. repec:bla:ecinqu:v:51:y:2013:i:3:p:1779-1794 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Daniel Fuchs & Patricia Fuk-Ying Tse & Xiaojun Feng, 2019. "Labour research under coercive authoritarianism: Comparative reflections on fieldwork challenges in China," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 40(1), pages 132-155, February.
    8. Linda Y. Yueh, 2004. "Wage Reforms in China During the 1990s," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 18(2), pages 149-164, June.
    9. Greiner, Ben & Ockenfels, Axel & Werner, Peter, 2011. "Wage transparency and performance: A real-effort experiment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 111(3), pages 236-238, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Galchenko, Valeria & Zubanov, Nick & Wong, Ho Lun & Zhou, Xiang, 2025. "Unequal pay, fairness perceptions, and work effort: Experimental evidence from China," Working Papers 46, University of Konstanz, Cluster of Excellence "The Politics of Inequality. Perceptions, Participation and Policies".

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