PAY TRANSPARENCY AND BARGAINING POWER: A MIXED-METHODS STUDY.

Sammanfattning: Through a mixed-methods approach consisting of a European-wide survey and qualitative interviews, while using a multinational company as my case study, I explore employees´ perceptions of pay transparency as an effective action to close the gender pay gap. I argue that women´s perceived weaker bargaining power, spurring from gendered social norms, is preventing them from reaching similar pay levels to that of men, as well as managerial positions in which they represent a minority, which participates in upholding the gender pay gap. Inspired from the EU directive on pay transparency, I focus on eleven locations across Europe, with diverging perceptions of PT and the degree to which it is desired. The focus is placed on perceptions, directly affecting one´s understanding and behavior, ultimately influencing the feasibility and implementation of such a perspective. I conclude that employees’ perceptions of pay transparency are strongly influenced by variables such as gender and location. Results indicate an increased perceived bargaining power for women working in countries with an experience of pay transparency, as well as an overall strive for more transparency, which supports a strand of the existing literature focusing on the relationship between pay transparency and bargaining power, as a remedy to the gender pay gap.