Literature Review and Prospects of Total Rewards: Factor Evolution, Theoretical Basis and Research Perspectives

Abstract

With the transformation of human cognition in theory and practice, the individualized needs of Intellectual” have prompted organizations to evolve from traditional compensation management to total rewards management. First of all, this paper summarizes and refines the origin, components, concept connotation and theoretical basis of total rewards. It is found that the academic community constantly gives the elements of total rewards a new connotation and expands total rewards according to the constant changes in the perception of employees’ human needs. The measurement research and practice tests are conducted continuously in the meantime. The theoretical basis of total rewards is mainly reflected in the motivation theories whose core element is how to design effective total rewards content and level to meet the actual needs of employees. Secondly, according to the organization’s human resource management objectives, the theoretical and practical circles mainly study the impact of the components of total rewards on employee retention, employee attraction and employee engagement from the perspective of organizational management. After reviewing the above research results and summarizing the existing research frameworks of total rewards, this paper finds that the existing research mainly studies the influencing factors and mechanisms of the total rewards system design from the perspective of organizational management, and optimizes the total rewards system based on the above influencing factors and mechanisms. With the deepening of the total rewards research in the theoretical and practical circles, some research results have initially involved total rewards research from the perspective of managers and employees. However, these studies are scattered and do not form a systematic and clear research framework. It can be seen that the research on total rewards in the theoretical and practical circles shows a trend of changing from an organizational perspective to an individual perspective. Finally, based on the trend of total rewards research perspective, this paper points out that the future research trend of total rewards is to explore the impacts and mechanisms of personal traits, leadership style, culture and other factors on the total rewards structure and level of employees in the organization’s total rewards framework from the perspective of employees and managers. Furthermore, this paper proposes a future research framework for total rewards from an individual perspective, and summarizes the future research focus of total rewards which includes three aspects: Firstly, the employee personality characteristics affect the long-term and short-term total rewards structure and level. Secondly, the manager’s personality characteristics and leadership style affect the long-term and short-term total rewards structure and level of employees. Thirdly, it combines Chinese local culture and organizational situation to study the total rewards structure model of Chinese employees and its influencing factors. Through the above research, it provides a reference for the organization of total rewards management, managerial personal traits and leadership style improvement, and employee personal traits and behavior improvement, so that employees can feel fairness and incentives to effectively achieve human resource management goals.