Introduction & Background
In 2005, U.S. women fulltime year-round workers earned 76.7 cents to every dollar earned by men (Webster & Bishaw, 2006). The gender wage gap has been explained by factors such as the “motherhood penalty” (Anderson, Binder, & Krause, 2003; Budig & England, 2001; Correll, Benard, & Paik, 2007), discrimination (Noonan, Corcoran, and Courant, 2005), career choices (Hesse & Carter, 2000), work values (Frieze, Olson, Murrell, & Selvan, 2006), and pay expectations (Jackson, Gardner & Sullivan, 1992; Kaman & Hartel, 1994).
Whereas some studies find gender differences in work values (Rottinghaus & Zytowski, 2006; Sinisalo, 2004), one large study by Frieze and colleagues (2006) found no gender difference except that women rated “wanting to do an excellent job” as more important than men. Despite research suggesting gender differences in some work values, little research has investigated gender differences in work values in relation to the gender pay gap. However, Frieze and her colleagues (2006) demonstrated that work values contribute to both actual salary and career engagement.
Salary expectations are a predictor of actual salary (Hojat et al., 2000). Thus, it is of interest to understand what variables underlie gender differences in expectations. The present study extends the work of Frieze and colleagues (2006) by focusing on work values as a possible underlying variable in expected, as opposed to actual, salary.