Measurement invariance of the pay satisfaction questionnaire across gender: explaining the 'contented female worker paradox' more thoroughly

Although women tend to earn less for doing similar jobs, research indicates that they are at least as satisfied with their pay as their male colleagues. In examining explanations for this paradox of the contented female worker, the Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ) is often used to measure and compare the pay satisfaction of both gender groups. However, using the PSQ without testing its measurement invariance across gender can lead to rash conclusions. Therefore, this study submitted PSQ data of 699 female and 448 male employees from different organizational sectors to a series of measurement invariance tests (i.e., configural invariance, metric invariance, scalar invariance, and error variance invariance). All tests' results support the measurement invariance of the PSQ across gender, indicating it as an appropriate instrument to examine the contented female worker paradox. The article concludes with some suggestions for future research.