IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jbfnac/v47y2020i1-2p100-131.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Powerful CEOs, cash bonus contracts and firm performance

Author

Listed:
  • Rebecca L. Bachmann
  • Anna Loyeung
  • Zoltan P. Matolcsy
  • Helen Spiropoulos

Abstract

We investigate whether powerful chief executive officers (CEOs) influence the conditions of their cash bonus contracts. Specifically, we examine (i) the association between CEO power and the proportion of ex‐ante cash bonus to base salary (bonus ratio), (ii) the association between CEO power and the relative use of non‐financial to financial performance targets in cash bonus contracts, and (iii) the performance consequences of incorporating non‐financial targets in cash bonus contracts. Results show that powerful CEOs are associated with greater ex‐ante bonus ratios and higher proportions of non‐financial performance targets compared to less powerful CEOs. Furthermore, the use of quantitative and corporate social responsibility (CSR)‐related non‐financial performance targets is positively associated with subsequent firm performance, and the use of undefined non‐financial performance targets is negatively associated with subsequent firm performance. These results are robust to alternative econometric specifications and variable definitions.

Suggested Citation

  • Rebecca L. Bachmann & Anna Loyeung & Zoltan P. Matolcsy & Helen Spiropoulos, 2020. "Powerful CEOs, cash bonus contracts and firm performance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1-2), pages 100-131, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:47:y:2020:i:1-2:p:100-131
    DOI: 10.1111/jbfa.12410
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbfa.12410
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jbfa.12410?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Clement Olalekan Olaniyi & Olaolu Richard Olayeni, 2020. "A new perspective into the relationship between CEO pay and firm performance: evidence from Nigeria’s listed firms," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 22(2), pages 250-277, December.
    2. Clement Olalekan Olaniyi & Ademola Obafemi Young & Xuan Vinh Vo & Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al‐Faryan, 2022. "Do institutional framework and its threshold matter in the sensitivity of CEO pay to firm performance? Fresh insights from an emerging market economy," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3386-3403, December.
    3. Rebecca L. Bachmann & Helen Spiropoulos, 2021. "Do females on boards affect acquisition outcomes and target selection: a replication and extension of Levi, Li and Zhang (2014)," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(2), pages 3427-3441, June.
    4. M. Ángeles López‐Cabarcos & Helena Santos‐Rodrigues & Lara Quiñoá‐Piñeiro & Juan Piñeiro‐Chousa, 2023. "How to explain stock returns of utility companies from an environmental, social and corporate governance perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2278-2291, September.
    5. Bachmann, Rebecca L. & Bedford, Anna & Ghannam, Samir & Yang, Jin Sug, 2023. "A shock to CEOs' external environment: terrorist attacks and CEO pay," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:47:y:2020:i:1-2:p:100-131. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0306-686X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.