How inequality in the workplace shapes workers’ motivation, engagement, and well-being

Inequality in the workplace — exemplified by executive (e.g., CEO) pay — has increased markedly over the last few decades, fuelling debate about its impact on group, organizational and societal functioning. Yet our understanding of exactly how CEO pay and other aspects of workplace inequality impact the variety of everyday workers’ behaviours remains limited.

For example, while some studies have found high leader rewards have positive effects on group outcomes, others found negative or no effects. There also remain questions about the effects of leader rewards on workers’ identification processes and their willingness to engage in individual (vs. collective) goals. This PhD project will seek to uncover when, why, and how executive pay (e.g., CEO pay vis-à-vis average worker pay) and related aspects of inequality in the workplace improve or undermine group /organizational functioning and thereby affect the social contract in both organizations and society at large.

This PhD Scholarship will support an Australian Research Council-funded Discovery Project ‘The impact of leader financial rewards on work group functioning’ conducted by a team of researchers including Associate Professor Nik Steffens and Professor Alex Haslam (The University of Queensland, Australia) and international collaborators, Professor Kim Peters (University of Exeter, UK) and Professor Naomi Ellemers (Utrecht University, The Netherlands).

You will be based in the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland — an internationally outstanding School of Psychology (ranked 30^th in the world in the QS World Ranking by Subject in 2023) that has a vibrant research culture. You will benefit from the activities and exchange with members of its thriving research centres such as the Social Identity and Groups Network (SIGN), the Centre for Business and Organisational Psychology (CBOP), and the Centre for Research in Social Psychology (CRiSP).