Between-firm Inequality and Informal Social Relations

Employer investment, social closure, peer networks: substantial research highlights differences in informal social structure across workplaces. Yet, studies of pay inequality between firms have largely neglected these differences, in favor of more easily measurable features like firm size or ownership structure. We show how three types of workplace social relations shape firm pay setting: employer relational investment; social closure as a source of bargaining power; and amenity ties that lock workers into jobs despite low pay. To operationalize these concepts, we draw on text data from a large archive of job reviews. Variance decomposition analyses show that differences in social relations account for up to 20\% of overall inequality in between-firm pay premiums and 7\% of residual inequality. Differences in informal social organization, and not just formal organization, predict pay differences between firms.

搜集汇总

背景与挑战

背景概述

该数据集聚焦于企业间薪酬不平等与非正式社会关系之间的关联，通过分析工作场所的雇主关系投资、社会封闭性和同事网络等因素，揭示这些非正式社会结构如何解释高达20%的企业间薪酬溢价不平等。研究基于大型工作评价档案的文本数据，强调非正式社会组织（而不仅仅是正式组织）是预测企业间薪酬差异的关键因素。