Relationships Among Self-Efficacy,Pay-for-Performance Perceptions,and Pay Satisfaction: A Korean Examination

This study is an effort to extend our understanding of the antecedents of pay satisfaction, particularly in multiple South Korean firms. We first examine the impact of self-efficacy on overall pay satisfaction and three of its subdimensions: satisfaction with pay level, satisfaction with benefits, and satisfaction with pay structure/administration. Next, we assess the moderating effects of pay-for-performance perceptions on the relationship between self-efficacy and pay satisfaction. Results from 256 employees in four South Korean companies support the proposed hypotheses that self-efficacy is negatively related to overall pay satisfaction and its three subdimensions. We also found support for the moderating role of pay-for-performance perceptions on the self-efficacy–pay satisfaction relations, for all pay satisfaction subdimensions except pay-level satisfaction. We discuss implications, future research directions, and limitations of this study.