The importance of pay in employee motivation: Discrepancies between what people say and what they do

A majority of human resources professionals appear to believe that employees are likely to over-report the importance of pay in employee surveys. However, research suggests the opposite is actually true. We review evidence showing the discrepancies between what people say and dowith respect to pay. We then discuss why pay is likely to be such an important general inotivator, as well as a variety, of reasons why managers might underestimate its importance. We note that pay is not equally important in all situations or to all individuals, and identify circumstances under which pay is likely to be ntore (or less) important to employees. We close with recommendations for imple inenting research findings with respect to pay and suggestions for evaluating pay systents. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.