With the global rise of pay transparency legislation aimed at promoting equal pay and reducing wage disparities, organizations face the challenge of balancing transparency with the potential risk of losing competitive talent. While existing research predominantly focuses on the effects of pay information disclosure (PID) on current employees, its impact on job applicants remains underexplored. This study examines how employers’ disclosure of pay ranges in job advertisements influences organizational attractiveness. Drawing on uncertainty management theory, we propose that wider disclosed pay ranges are associated with higher expected future pay levels, thereby increasing employer attractiveness—particularly among applicants with stronger distributive justice perceptions of the organization. Furthermore, we theorize that providing explanations for pay ranges enhances applicants’ distributive justice perceptions, further amplifying the positive effects of wider pay ranges. Using an event-based experience sampling method (ESM) encompassing 827 real job-seeking experiences from 91 job seekers over a four-week period, we found that distributive justice perceptions regarding pay-related disclosures strengthened the positive relationship between wide pay ranges and applicants’ expectations of future pay levels, ultimately enhancing organizational attractiveness. These findings offer important theoretical and practical implications for compensation practices and recruitment strategies.
