Gender differences in pay expectations at three career stages

Major and Konar (1984) found a difference between genders in pay expectations, but no difference in the perceived fairness of expected pay. In my study, I evaluated pay expectation differences in gender at three career stages. In previous studies, researchers have only looked at what individuals earn at the beginning and peak of their careers. I specifically examined both men and women and asked them to indicate their expected pay at the beginning, middle and end of their careers. In this study the main effect for gender was significant such that males had higher pay expectations than females. In addition, the main effect for career stage was significant such that pay expectations increased over the course of a career. Further, the interaction between gender and career stage was significant, with greater differences between genders in pay expectations occurring in later career stages. Lastly, I examined perceptions of pay fairness and I found that there were gender differences in the perceived fairness of expected pay, although I had hypothesized that this difference would not be significant