Chapter 10: Calling for more Organizational Research on Socioeconomic Status

Socioeconomic status (SES) refers to the social standing of an individual or group of people, and reflects a combination of income, education, and occupation (American Psychological Association, 2020). In this chapter, we argue that both theoretical and empirical research on SES is lacking in organizational science. We present a model in the current research (ASA; Schneider, 1987) that breaks down the impact of SES in three separate stages of the employment cycle: attraction, selection, and attrition. For each stage, we consider both the perspective of the individual who may be low in SES (self) and how other organizational members (others) perceive those who may be low in SES. We conclude that scholars and organizations can better understand the impact of SES by studying a wider range of both employees within organizations and industries themselves to ensure that research reflects the experiences of those across the SES spectrum. We emphasize the importance of focusing on those outside the highest organizational echelons, as those in management and leadership are overrepresented in organizational research. We also suggest a number of important avenues for future research on SES in organizations, such as considering unique stressors, the meaning of work, and subjective perceptions of status at work.