PAY STATUS HIERARCHY AND ORGANIZATIONAL ATTACHMENT

Frank's (1984a) theory of interdependent preferences and the competiti ve wage structure posits that higher paid workers tradeoff income for status in the organization. Lower paid workers are compensated for the low status their pay entails. This study tested this theory on a samp le of police personnel, The results indicated that the desire for stat us moderated the influence of relative pay on organizational attachmen t in directions predicted by the theory. implications for compensation practice and social comparison research are discussed.