A study of living wage effects on employees' performance‐related attitudes and behaviour

• Author: Zhaocheng Zeng,Benson Honig
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1375
• Date: 01 March 2017
• Published date: 01 March 2017

A study of living wage effects on employees’

performance-related attitudes and behaviour

Zhaocheng Zeng*

McMaster University

Benson Honig

McMaster University

Abstract

Despite the surge of interest in living wage research, most

studies pay little attention to the effect of living wages on

employee attitudes and behaviour. We examine the

differences between living wage and minimum wage workers

on three attitudinal and behavioural outcomes: affective

commitment, organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB),

and turnover intention. We also examine the effects of

training and benef‌its on the three outcomes. Results show

that living wage workers have higher affective commitment

and lower turnover intention. Training and benef‌its also

improve workers’attitudinal and behavioural outcomes

variously. Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John

Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: minimum wage, living wage, affective

commitment, OCB, turnover intention

Résumé

En dépit du regain d’intérêt dans la recherche sur les

salaires de subsistance, la plupart des études accordent

peu d’attention à l’impact de ces salaires sur les attitudes

et les comportements des employés. Dans cet article, nous

examinons les différences entre les employés qui gagnent

des salaires de subsistance et ceux qui gagnent des salaires

minimaux, en nous basant sur trois facteurs attitudinaux et

comportementaux à savoir : l’engagement affectif, le

comportement citoyen organisationnel (OCB) et l’intention

de renouvellement. Nous examinons également les effets de

la formation et des avantages sur ses trois facteurs. Les

résultats indiquent que les employés qui gagnent des

salaires de subsistance ont un engagement affectif plus élevé

et une intention de renouvellement plus faible. Par ailleurs,

la formation et les avantages améliorent diversement les

facteurs attitudinaux et comportementaux des employés.

Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley &

Sons, Ltd.

Mots-clés : salaire minimal, salaire de subsistance, engage-

ment affectif, comportement citoyen organisationnel, inten-

tion de renouvellement

Living wage campaigns have recently emerged as an

important aspect of labour justice worldwide (Reynolds &

Kern, 2001). Unlike minimum wage legislation that focuses

primarily on workers’survival needs, a living wage policy is

meant to provide individuals with a modicum of dignity and

a higher quality of life. Living wage policies are designed to

provide social needs as well as basic living requirements

(Shelburne, 1999). In addition to meeting a worker’s physi-

cal needs, social needs allow workers to enjoy a higher qual-

ity of life, and a decent and comfortable standard of living.

Ryan (1996) further maintains that living wages should lift

workers out of poverty and provide them with a nutritious

diet, suitable housing, transportation, health care, education,

and savings for long-term emergencies. In addition, living

wages can also affect community and civil development by

ensuring the kind of life quality that allows for civic engage-

ment and community development (Luce, 2004).

Increasing public attention has led scholars to begin

examining the relationship between living wages and

personal and economic outcomes. For example, recent

research has examined the effects of living wage on poverty

reduction (Neumark & Adams, 2003a, 2003b), economic

development (Freeman, 2005; Luce, 2004), social welfare

policy (Chandler, 2009), employment (Adams & Neumark,

2005a, 2005b; Fairris & Reich, 2005), workers’physical

and mental health (Bhatia & Katz, 2001; Cole et al., 2005;

Flint, Cummins, & Wills, 2014; Glickman, 1999), and social

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities

Research Council of Canada through the Community First: Impacts of

Community Engagement Project. The authors wish to acknowledge with

thanks the funds for supporting their research.

*Please address correspondence to: Zhaocheng Zeng, DeGroote School of

Business, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4 K1, Canada.

Email: zengz6@mcmaster.ca

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

34:19–32 (2017)

Published online 2 March 2016 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1375

Can J Adm Sci

34(1), 19–32 (2017)Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 19