Pay transparency has become a global trend, but extant studies have not reached consensus on how employees react to this practice. Through a met-analysis across 50 samples and 14 countries, this study synthesizes mixed findings concerning the effects of pay transparency on employee outcomes (cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral reactions) and explores the moderating effects of global contingencies (country-level economic, cultural, technological, regulatory, demographic, and societal factors) drawing on relative deprivation theory and relative gratification theory. The results reveal generally positive effects on cognitive and attitudinal responses, and positive but not significant effects on behavioral reactions. Besides, generally consistent with our predictions, unfavorable external environment (high income inequality and high gender wage gap, etc.) would amplify positive effects owing to relative gratification, while favorable macro environment (high law gender equality, participatory democracy, etc.) would suppress the positive effects. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.
