Gender Pay Gap: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Effect of Workplace Entitlement on Pay Differences

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.