HR Differentiation and Employee Outcomes: A Social Comparison Process

HR differentiation (i.e. disproportionate employee investment and treatment) typically leads employees to compare their individual HR practice outcomes with those of others. While ‘lower-level’ employees may compare their... [ view full abstract ]

HR differentiation (i.e. disproportionate employee investment and treatment) typically leads employees to compare their individual HR practice outcomes with those of others. While ‘lower-level’ employees may compare their outcomes with those of ‘higher-level’ employees; I argue that these social comparison processes are more salient within employees of more or less similar jobs/positions or experience. Thus, building on social comparison theory, I advance a theoretical framework that describes how employees might respond to HR differentiation. My proposition is that since HR practices have ‘signaling’ effects, employee reactions to HR differentiation are shaped by their perceptions of those HR practices. Hence, perceived favorability of HR practices can be understood as an important indicator of employee responses to HR differentiation. I also argue that fairness perceptions are the mechanisms through which perceived favorability of HR practices influences employee attitudes and behaviors. Finally, I outline a research agenda for my proposed model.