Living to Work and Working to Live: Income as a Driver of Organizational Behavior

Abstract

Income as a relatively stable aspect of a job (e.g. annual salary, non-incentive wages, or weekly or hourly pay) has received relatively little consideration in organizational theorizing and research, despite its critical importance to workers, organizations, and society at large. Income inequality has similarly received scant attention, although it is a topic of great intellectual and practical importance. In this paper we describe the ways in which income and income inequality affect how people behave in both their professional and personal lives, and suggest ways in which organizations may influence, and be influenced by, these effects. We integrate research from a number of disciplines, highlight leading findings across them, and suggest ways in which organizational scholarship can inform research and practice in this domain. Our goal is to facilitate the development of income-related research programs in organizational science.

Notes

1 Hereafter we use income to refer to relatively stable pay such as annual salary, or predictable monthly, weekly, or hourly wages.

2 http://www.cenus.gov/hhes/www/income/data/historical/inequality/.