Why People Think that Higher-Paid Workers Make Higher-Quality Products

Autor(en)

Ignazio Ziano, Birga M. Schumpe, Christoph Ungemach, Lucas Stich, Christoph Fuchs, Martin Spann

Abstrakt

Information about workers’ wages is publicly available through various sources (e.g., Glassdoor, SEC statements). How does this wage information affect the perceived quality of the products made by these workers? Across eight experiments with participants from the U.S., Britain, and France, we find that people expect and perceive products to be of higher quality when made by well-paid workers—both in comparison to products made by lower-paid workers and to those from companies where wage information is unknown. These perceptions, in turn, increase consumers’ likelihood of choosing these products and their willingness to pay a premium. This effect is driven by the belief that well-paid workers are more satisfied, which leads to higher-quality output. Our findings contribute to research on the determinants of value and quality expectations, as well as lay theories of product quality. They also offer practical implications for the communication, use, and regulation of worker pay information.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Marketing und International Business

Externe Organisation(en)

Universität Genf, University of Amsterdam (UvA), Technische Universität München, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Anzahl der Seiten

36

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/qv6y4_v2

Publikationsdatum

04-2025

ÖFOS 2012

502019 Marketing, 502052 Betriebswirtschaftslehre

Schlagwörter

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/da230466-21a7-454c-b4ee-2dd2d2eba7f9