The Pay Information Awareness Questionnaire (PIAQ): A Comprehensive Measure of Pay Transparency

• Published in: Compensation and benefits review Vol. 57; no. 2; pp. 120 - 139
• Main Authors: Henn, Carolyn M., Neck, Christopher B., Houghton, Jeffery D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.04.2025; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Information; Transparency; Wages & salaries; pay transparency; pay information; measurement scale
• ISSN: 0886-3687; 1552-3837
• DOI: 10.1177/08863687241304017

Pay transparency has drawn substantial attention from scholars in recent years, resulting in an expanding body of knowledge on this important topic. However, the literature has developed in a fragmented manner with an array of labels and conceptualizations across several largely disconnected dimensions. Pay transparency measurement scales have also emerged in a piecemeal fashion and lack cohesion in the operationalization of pay transparency dimensions. The current research develops a more cohesive and comprehensive multi-dimensional pay transparency framework and measurement scale. The paper reviews and integrates the pay transparency literature into a coherent, multi-dimensional framework founded on employee awareness perceptions of pay information rather than on objective organizational actions or employee behaviors. Following established scale development techniques, the present study creates and validates a multi-dimensional pay information awareness scale that may serve to facilitate future research on pay transparency. Implications are discussed, along with limitations and directions for future research.