Job Power and Earnings

This paper analyzes the ways in which organizations shape the work activities of the persons they employ and the ways in which these work activities reflect the kinds and amounts of resources controlled by incumbents of organizational positions and, therefore, the amount of job power that those incumbents have. The resource control perspective is used to develop two measures of control over organizational resources: control over monetary resources and control over personnel. Among men, control over monetary resources is a stronger determinant of earnings than other work-related variables. Among women, control over monetary resources and control over personnel are jointly stronger determinants of earnings than other work-related variables. The implications of resource control for investigations of earnings within classes are briefly discussed.