IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/rvmgts/v16y2022i8d10.1007_s11846-021-00502-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Not all stakeholders are created equal: executive vertical pay disparity and firms’ choice of internal and external CSR

Author

Listed:
  • Xi Zhong

    (Guangdong University of Technology)

  • Ge Ren

    (South China University of Technology)

  • XiaoJie Wu

    (Guangdong University of Technology)

Abstract

This study explores the role of executive vertical pay disparity in explaining firms’ choice of CSR activities (internal vs. external CSR). Based on tournament theory and the attention-based view, we first propose that vertical pay disparity leads executives to increase CSR activities, but in this process, compared to external CSR activities, executives are more likely to increase internal CSR activities. We then propose that the effect of executive vertical pay disparity on the choice of CSR activities will be moderated by three situational cues: state-owned enterprises (SOEs), litigation risk, and slack resources. Empirical analyses based on unbalanced panel data of China’s listed manufacturing firms from 2010 to 2018 show that our hypotheses are largely supported. Our results show that vertical pay disparity drives executives to increase CSR activities that contribute to the long-term interests of shareholders; however, in the process, executives focus on certain stakeholders over others.

Suggested Citation

  • Xi Zhong & Ge Ren & XiaoJie Wu, 2022. "Not all stakeholders are created equal: executive vertical pay disparity and firms’ choice of internal and external CSR," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(8), pages 2495-2525, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:rvmgts:v:16:y:2022:i:8:d:10.1007_s11846-021-00502-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s11846-021-00502-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11846-021-00502-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11846-021-00502-8?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lazear, Edward P & Rosen, Sherwin, 1981. "Rank-Order Tournaments as Optimum Labor Contracts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(5), pages 841-864, October.
    2. Olga Hawn & Ioannis Ioannou, 2016. "Mind the gap: The interplay between external and internal actions in the case of corporate social responsibility," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(13), pages 2569-2588, December.
    3. Joel L. Andrus & Michael C. Withers & Stephen H. Courtright & Steven Boivie, 2019. "Go your own way: Exploring the causes of top executive turnover," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(7), pages 1151-1168, July.
    4. John C. Driscoll & Aart C. Kraay, 1998. "Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation With Spatially Dependent Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 549-560, November.
    5. Gerwin Laan & Hans Ees & Arjen Witteloostuijn, 2008. "Corporate Social and Financial Performance: An Extended Stakeholder Theory, and Empirical Test with Accounting Measures," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 79(3), pages 299-310, May.
    6. Timothy D. Hubbard & Dane M. Christensen & Scott D. Graffin, 2017. "Higher Highs and Lower Lows: The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in CEO Dismissal," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(11), pages 2255-2265, November.
    7. Jeongil Seo & Daniel L. Gamache & Cynthia E. Devers & Mason A. Carpenter, 2015. "The role of CEO relative standing in acquisition behavior and CEO pay," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(12), pages 1877-1894, December.
    8. Yi Tang & Cuili Qian & Guoli Chen & Rui Shen, 2015. "How CEO hubris affects corporate social (ir)responsibility," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9), pages 1338-1357, September.
    9. Wei Shi & Brian L. Connelly & Wm. Gerard Sanders, 2016. "Buying bad behavior: Tournament incentives and securities class action lawsuits," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7), pages 1354-1378, July.
    10. Shahid Ali & Junrui Zhang & Muhammad Usman & Muhammad Kaleem Khan & Farman Ullah Khan & Muhammad Abubakkar Siddique, 2020. "Do tournament incentives motivate chief executive officers to be socially responsible?," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(5), pages 597-619, February.
    11. Jian, Ming & Lee, Kin-Wai, 2015. "CEO compensation and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 46-65.
    12. Boubakri, Narjess & El Ghoul, Sadok & Wang, He & Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck C.Y., 2016. "Cross-listing and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 123-138.
    13. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    14. Kini, Omesh & Williams, Ryan, 2012. "Tournament incentives, firm risk, and corporate policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 350-376.
    15. James W. Fredrickson & Alison Davis‐Blake & WM. Gerard Sanders, 2010. "Sharing the wealth: social comparisons and pay dispersion in the CEO's top team," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(10), pages 1031-1053, October.
    16. Firth, Michael & Fung, Peter M.Y. & Rui, Oliver M., 2006. "Corporate performance and CEO compensation in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 693-714, September.
    17. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    18. Kao, Erin H. & Yeh, Chih-Chuan & Wang, Li-Hsun & Fung, Hung-Gay, 2018. "The relationship between CSR and performance: Evidence in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 155-170.
    19. Arthur Lewbel, 1997. "Constructing Instruments for Regressions with Measurement Error when no Additional Data are Available, with an Application to Patents and R&D," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(5), pages 1201-1214, September.
    20. Won‐Moo Hur & Tae‐Won Moon & Wook‐Hee Choi, 2019. "When are internal and external corporate social responsibility initiatives amplified? Employee engagement in corporate social responsibility initiatives on prosocial and proactive behaviors," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(4), pages 849-858, July.
    21. Najah Attig & Narjess Boubakri & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami, 2016. "Firm Internationalization and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(2), pages 171-197, March.
    22. Pasi Kuusela & Thomas Keil & Markku Maula, 2017. "Driven by aspirations, but in what direction? Performance shortfalls, slack resources, and resource-consuming vs. resource-freeing organizational change," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 1101-1120, May.
    23. Cheng Xiang & Fengwen Chen & Paul Jones & Senmao Xia, 2021. "The effect of institutional investors’ distraction on firms’ corporate social responsibility engagement: evidence from China," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(6), pages 1645-1681, August.
    24. Abagail McWilliams & Donald Siegel, 2000. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance: correlation or misspecification?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 603-609, May.
    25. Jean McGuire & Jana Oehmichen & Michael Wolff & Roman Hilgers, 2019. "Do Contracts Make Them Care? The Impact of CEO Compensation Design on Corporate Social Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 375-390, June.
    26. Sanja Pekovic & Sebastian Vogt, 2021. "The fit between corporate social responsibility and corporate governance: the impact on a firm’s financial performance," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1095-1125, May.
    27. Ping-Sheng Koh & Cuili Qian & Heli Wang, 2014. "Firm litigation risk and the insurance value of corporate social performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(10), pages 1464-1482, October.
    28. Phyllis A. Siegel & Donald C. Hambrick, 2005. "Pay Disparities Within Top Management Groups: Evidence of Harmful Effects on Performance of High-Technology Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(3), pages 259-274, June.
    29. William Ocasio, 1997. "Towards An Attention‐Based View Of The Firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(S1), pages 187-206, July.
    30. Jingoo Kang, 2016. "Labor market evaluation versus legacy conservation: What factors determine retiring CEOs' decisions about long-term investment?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 389-405, February.
    31. Marko Reimer & Sebastiaan Doorn & Mariano L. M. Heyden, 2018. "Unpacking Functional Experience Complementarities in Senior Leaders’ Influences on CSR Strategy: A CEO–Top Management Team Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 977-995, September.
    32. Cristina Cruz & Martin Larraza–Kintana & Lucía Garcés–Galdeano & Pascual Berrone, 2014. "Are Family Firms Really More Socially Responsible?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(6), pages 1295-1316, November.
    33. Elizabeth Lim, 2019. "Attainment Discrepancy and New Geographic Market Entry: The Moderating Roles of Vertical Pay Disparity and Horizontal Pay Dispersion," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(8), pages 1605-1629, December.
    34. Xingqiang Du & Wei Jian & Yingjie Du & Wentao Feng & Quan Zeng, 2014. "Religion, the Nature of Ultimate Owner, and Corporate Philanthropic Giving: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(2), pages 235-256, August.
    35. Grougiou, Vassiliki & Dedoulis, Emmanouil & Leventis, Stergios, 2016. "Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting and Organizational Stigma: The Case of “Sin” Industries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 905-914.
    36. Carl Hsin-han Shen & Hao Zhang, 2018. "Tournament Incentives and Firm Innovation," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 22(4), pages 1515-1548.
    37. Al-Shammari, Marwan & Rasheed, Abdul & Al-Shammari, Hussam A., 2019. "CEO narcissism and corporate social responsibility: Does CEO narcissism affect CSR focus?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 106-117.
    38. Won-Yong Oh & Young Kyun Chang & Zheng Cheng, 2016. "When CEO Career Horizon Problems Matter for Corporate Social Responsibility: The Moderating Roles of Industry-Level Discretion and Blockholder Ownership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 279-291, January.
    39. Lisa Silge & Arnt Wöhrmann, 2021. "Market reaction to asymmetric cost behavior: the impact of long-term growth expectations," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 309-347, February.
    40. Jin-hui Luo & Yuangao Xiang & Ruichao Zhu, 2017. "Military top executives and corporate philanthropy: Evidence from China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 725-755, September.
    41. Arena, Matteo P., 2018. "Corporate litigation and debt," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 202-215.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Yujuan Wu & Jacquline Tham, 2023. "The Impact of Executive Green Incentives and Top Management Team Characteristics on Corporate Value in China: The Mediating Role of Environment, Social and Government Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-23, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhou, Gaoguang, 2022. "Good for managers, bad for shareholders? The effects of lone-insider boards on excessive corporate social responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 370-383.
    2. Zhe Li & Bo Wang & Dan Zhou, 2022. "Financial experts of top management teams and corporate social responsibility: evidence from China," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1335-1386, November.
    3. 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).
    4. Kwon, Shin Hyoung & Kim, Joongseo & Yim, Hyunsoon (Sean), 2023. "Looking far or close: The explanatory role of myopic management in the relationship between CEO-TMT power disparity and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    5. Zhong, Xi & Ren, Liuyang & Song, Tiebo, 2021. "Different effects of internal and external tournament incentives on corporate financial misconduct: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 329-341.
    6. Shahid Ali & Junrui Zhang & Muhammad Usman & Muhammad Kaleem Khan & Farman Ullah Khan & Muhammad Abubakkar Siddique, 2020. "Do tournament incentives motivate chief executive officers to be socially responsible?," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(5), pages 597-619, February.
    7. Zhe Zhang & Xin Wang & Ming Jia, 2021. "Echoes of CEO Entrepreneurial Orientation: How and When CEO Entrepreneurial Orientation Influences Dual CSR Activities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(4), pages 609-629, April.
    8. Sajid Ullah & Farman Ullah Khan & Laura-Mariana Cismaș & Muhammad Usman & Andra Miculescu, 2022. "Do Tournament Incentives Matter for CEOs to Be Environmentally Responsible? Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-20, January.
    9. Bhaskar, Ratikant & Li, Peigong & Bansal, Shashank & Kumar, Satish, 2023. "A new insight on CEO characteristics and corporate social responsibility (CSR): A meta-analytical review," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Heli Wang & Ming Jia & Zhe Zhang, 2021. "Good Deeds Done in Silence: Stakeholder Management and Quiet Giving by Chinese Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 649-674, May.
    11. Jorien L. Pruijssers & Pursey P. M. A. R. Heugens & J. Oosterhout, 2020. "Winning at a Losing Game? Side-Effects of Perceived Tournament Promotion Incentives in Audit Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 149-167, February.
    12. Ting-Ting Li & Kai Wang & Toshiyuki Sueyoshi & Derek D. Wang, 2021. "ESG: Research Progress and Future Prospects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-28, October.
    13. Sun, Sophia Li & Habib, Ahsan & Huang, Hedy Jiaying, 2019. "Tournament incentives and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 93-117.
    14. Jongwon Park & Sunyoung Kim & Albert Tsang, 2023. "CEO Personal Hedging and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(1), pages 199-221, January.
    15. Leon Zolotoy & Don O’Sullivan & Jill Klein, 2019. "Character Cues and Contracting Costs: The Relationship Between Philanthropy and the Cost of Capital," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 497-515, January.
    16. James W. Bannister & Harry A. Newman & Emma Y. Peng, 2020. "Top management tournament incentives and credit ratings," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 769-801, August.
    17. Xi Zhong & Liuyang Ren & Tiebo Song, 2022. "Beyond Market Strategies: How Multiple Decision-Maker Groups Jointly Influence Underperforming Firms’ Corporate Social (Ir)responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(2), pages 481-499, June.
    18. Michael Mayberry, 2020. "Good for managers, bad for society? Causal evidence on the association between risk‐taking incentives and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(9-10), pages 1182-1214, October.
    19. Bu, Luofan & Chan, Kam C. & Choi, Ahrum & Zhou, Gaoguang, 2021. "Talented inside directors and corporate social responsibility: A tale of two roles," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    20. Jie Chen & Xicheng Liu & Wei Song, 2018. "CEO general managerial skills and corporate social responsibility," Working Papers 2018-16, Swansea University, School of Management.

    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:spr:rvmgts:v:16:y:2022:i:8:d:10.1007_s11846-021-00502-8. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.