Cross-cultural Differences in Compensation Level and Inequality across Occupations: A Set-theoretic Analysis
Abstract
Compensation level and compensation inequality, as central aspects of modern organizations, are vital for organization studies. Previous research has investigated various aspects of compensation systems, but few studies have taken a cross-cultural perspective. I address this need for cross-cultural research by studying compensation and culture utilizing a configurational approach, investigating combinations of cultural and macro-environmental attributes associated with differences in compensation level and compensation inequality. I apply fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to analyze country-level data encompassing four occupational groups (cleaners, secretaries, mid-level managers, and senior managers) from 44 countries. Findings show configurations of cultural dimensions, development, and welfare state that are sufficient for high compensation level and compensation inequality among these four occupations. Implications for future cross-cultural research on compensation are discussed.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Studies in the review sample frequently involved nation-level research with small or intermediate samples.
“studies in our review sample frequently involved nation-level research with small or intermediate samples (e.g., Greckhamer, 2011; Kogut & Ragin, 2006; Pajunen, 2008; Schneider, Schulze-Bentrop, & Paunescu, 2010).”
From Embracing Causal Complexity: The Emergence of a Neo-Configurational Perspective (2017) · cites this paper as Greckhamer, 2011
Cites
The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism
Hicks, A., & Esping-Andersen, G. (1991) · Contemporary Sociology · doi:10.2307/2073705 · Cited by 7,092 · see citing works
Configurational Comparative Methods: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Related Techniques
Rihoux, B., & Ragin, C. (2009) · SAGE Publications · doi:10.4135/9781452226569 · Cited by 3,089 · see citing works
A set-theoretic approach to organizational configurations
Fiss, P. C. (2007) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.2007.26586092 · Cited by 2,225 · see citing works
Set Relations in Social Research: Evaluating Their Consistency and Coverage
Ragin, C. C. (2006) · Political Analysis · doi:10.1093/pan/mpj019 · Cited by 1,784 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Building Better Causal Theories: A Fuzzy Set Approach to Typologies in Organization Research
Fiss, P. C. (2011) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2011.60263120 · Cited by 5,930 · see citing works
Embracing Causal Complexity: The Emergence of a Neo-Configurational Perspective
Misangyi, V. F., Greckhamer, T., Furnari, S., Fiss, P. C., Crilly, D., & Aguilera, R. (2017) · Journal of Management · doi:10.1177/0149206316679252 · Cited by 1,099 · see citing works
Self-citationChapter 3 The Two QCAs: From a Small-N to a Large-N Set Theoretic Approach
Greckhamer, T., Misangyi, V. F., & Fiss, P. C. (2013) · Research in the Sociology of Organizations · doi:10.1108/s0733-558x(2013)0000038007 · Cited by 435 · see citing works
Self-citationGeorge Washington University, U., Park, Y., El Sawy, O. A., University of Southern California, U., Fiss, P. C., & University of Southern California, U. (2017) · Journal of the Association for Information Systems · doi:10.17705/1jais.00467 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
- Authors
- Greckhamer, T.
- Affiliations
- Louisiana State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Greckhamer, Thomas
- ORCID
- Greckhamer, Thomas
- Venue
- Organization Studies
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2011-01
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 85-115
- ISSN
- 0170-8406 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-3044
- OpenAlex
- W2048702331
- Cited by
- 200
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 49.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Organization Studies (publishedVersion)
- Civil War Book Review (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Global and Cross-Cultural Management
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Labor market dynamics and wage inequality
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies
- Keywords
- compensation level, cross-cultural comparison, cultural dimensions, welfare state, occupational groups, cleaning workers, secretaries, middle managers, business executives, configurational approach, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
