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Pay inequalities and managerial turnover

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  • Kale, Jayant R.
  • Reis, Ebru
  • Venkateswaran, Anand

Abstract

We study how pay inequalities affect (i) a firm's rate of voluntary non-CEO manager (VP) VP resignations, and (ii) the likelihood that an individual VP will voluntarily resign. We consider pay inequalities that a VP faces relative to (i) the CEO in her own firm, (ii) other VPs in the firm, and (iii) VPs in benchmark firms. We use a unique hand-collected dataset of over 1000 voluntary managerial resignations and find that pay inequality is an important determinant of managerial turnover. We find that managers are more likely to resign when their pay relative to their peers in the firm and outside the firm is lower; and firms with greater levels of pay inequality and greater pay inequality relative to benchmark firms experience higher VP turnover.

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  • Kale, Jayant R. & Reis, Ebru & Venkateswaran, Anand, 2014. "Pay inequalities and managerial turnover," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 21-39.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:27:y:2014:i:c:p:21-39
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jempfin.2013.11.002
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    3. Wojciech Przychodzen & Fernando Gómez-Bezares, 2021. "CEO–Employee Pay Gap, Productivity and Value Creation," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-17, April.
    4. Sun, Sophia Li & Habib, Ahsan, 2020. "Determinants and consequences of tournament incentives: A survey of the literature in accounting and finance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    5. Dmytro Osiichuk, 2022. "The Driver of Workplace Alienation or the Cost of Effective Stewardship? The Consequences of Wage Gap for Corporate Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-26, June.
    6. Haque, Md Reiazul & Choi, Bobae & Lee, Doowon & Wright, Sue, 2022. "Insider vs. outsider CEO and firm performance: Evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    7. Ian Gregory-Smith & Peter W Wright, 2019. "Winners and losers of corporate tournaments," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 71(1), pages 250-268.
    8. Chenli Yin & Dan Li & Maria Paz Salmador, 2022. "Institutional change of compensation policy and its impact on CEO turnover and firm performance," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(8), pages 2527-2552, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Managerial incentives; Tournaments; Executive compensation; Turnover;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

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