高管薪酬契约、参照点效应及其治理效果:基于行为经济学的理论解释与经验证据

本文基于行为经济学视角的理论阐释,利用中国A股2004-2011年数据实证检验了高管薪酬契约的参照点效应及其治理后果。研究结果表明:(1)我国上市公司高管薪酬契约呈现明显的参照点效应,即上市公司高管薪酬显著受到同行业、本地区高管薪酬均值等外部参照基准的影响;(2)薪酬契约参照点效应引发的主观心理感知对企业高管的在职消费和主动离职行为等都有重要影响,具体来讲,当高管薪酬水平低于同行业、本地区高管薪酬均值时,企业高管将产生自我利益被侵蚀的消极心理感知,进而导致他们通过在职消费途径寻求替代性激励补偿的动机显著增强;同时,企业高管发生主动离职行为的概率也明显增强。     

董事会非正式层级与高管薪酬契约有效性

董事会治理是影响高管薪酬契约有效性的关键,已有研究主要从董事会结构层面展开,缺乏对董事会内部运作机制与高管薪酬契约有效性关系的具体分析。基于董事权威不平衡性的治理效应视角,系统考察了董事会非正式层级与高管薪酬契约有效性的逻辑关系及其作用机理,得出了一些具有重要价值的结论,主要包括:1.董事会非正式层级对高管薪酬业绩敏感性具有显著的负向调节作用,且主要体现在业绩下滑的样本公司中,表明董事会非正式层级对高管薪酬契约的影响主要体现在公平性和风险匹配性方面。2.只有当最高层级董事身份为独立董事时,董事会非正式层级对高管薪酬业绩敏感性具有显著的负向调节效应。3.董事会非正式层级增强了高管薪酬的行业和地区薪酬敏感性,进一步验证了董事会非正式层级的社会公平效应。论文的研究为从微观运作层面理解董事会治理和高管薪酬契约有效性提供一种新的视角和结论,对于优化董事会治理和提高高管薪酬契约有效性等均具有重要借鉴意义。     

独立董事的明星效应:基于高管薪酬—业绩敏感性的考察

独立董事治理行为的首要机制是声誉激励,然而这一机制的有效性在中国却长期囿于数据的可获得性而未得到充分检验。基于此,本文首次根据百度中文搜索引擎数据反映的社会知名度来衡量独立董事个人的社会声誉激励强度,进而从高管薪酬—业绩敏感性视角检验了独立董事的社会声誉激励效应——也即所谓的明星效应。实证研究发现,同等条件下,聘请了高社会知名度的明星独立董事的上市公司具有显著更低的高管薪酬—业绩敏感性,即明星独董显著降低了公司高管薪酬契约的有效性,而且这一结果主要反映在薪酬政策不受政府管制的民营上市公司。本文的研究结论丰富了中国独立董事制度有效性相关的文献,特别是揭示了独董不能发挥作用的内在原因。     

市场化程度、行业竞争与管理者薪酬增长

针对近年来我国上市公司管理者薪酬逐渐增长的现象,本文采用地区市场化程度和行业竞争这两个外部治理机制变量,检验了管理者权力理论对我国上市公司行业薪酬基准使用的解释力,研究结果表明:我国的上市公司在制定管理者薪酬契约时采用了行业薪酬基准,并由此导致了管理者薪酬的逐渐增长;而且对处于市场化程度较低地区以及被保护性行业的上市公司,外部治理机制的弱化增强了管理者对于薪酬契约的影响,因此,这些公司的管理者越可能因为公司采用行业薪酬基准而获得薪酬的增长;进一步地研究发现,与民营上市公司相比,由于国有上市公司的治理结构更为弱化,由此导致国有上市公司的管理者更可能通过采用行业薪酬基准来谋求薪酬的增长。本文的研究意义不仅在于支持了管理者权力理论对我国上市公司行业薪酬基准使用的解释力,而且对我国国有上市公司管理者薪酬增长更快的原因提供了一定的解释。     

政府补助、软约束与薪酬差距

本文以政府补助为切入点,以2007-2010年中国A股上市公司的5118个样本为研究对象,通过分析约束性不同的政府补助对薪酬差距及其激励效应的影响,检验了高管权力通过政府补助作用于薪酬差距的具体过程。本文研究发现:(1)高管权力的存在会使政府补助成为其"伪装"业绩的指标,从而增加高管薪酬,进而加大公司内部的薪酬差距。并且这种现象在国有企业中比在民营企业中表现得更为突出;(2)高管利用政府补助增加其薪酬的权力受制于政府补助的约束性。仅在政府补助约束性较弱的情况下,政府补助才会增加高管薪酬,加大薪酬差距;(3)从政府补助影响薪酬差距的经济后果来看,政府补助导致的薪酬差距会削弱薪酬差距对公司未来业绩的正向影响。同时,软约束补助对薪酬差距激励效应的削弱作用更大。     

信息透明度与经理薪酬契约有效性:来自中国证券市场的经验证据

本文以2003-2006年深圳证券交易所A股上市公司为研究对象,实证考察信息透明度对经理薪酬契约有效性的影响,试图从经理薪酬契约角度重新诠释信息透明度的经济后果.研究发现,信息透明度能够显著提高经理薪酬契约的有效性.具体而言,信息透明度越高的公司,经理薪酬业绩敏感性越高,经理薪酬与盈利业绩和亏损业绩之间的非对称性越小.研究还发现,与非国有企业相比,国有上市公司信息透明度对经理薪酬契约有效性的影响更加显著.本研究论证了信息透明度在减少股东与经理之间的信息不对称和降低公司代理成本中的重要作用.     

产权性质、管理层权力与薪酬差距激励效应——基于政府补助的中介作用

 薪酬差距激励效应一直是理论研究和实证研究的热点。锦标赛理论和行为理论忽略了管理层权力的影响，因而对薪酬差距激励效应的解释能力有限。        将管理层权力引入研究框架，以政府补助为中介变量，检验管理层权力通过政府补助作用于薪酬差距的具体过程和经济后果，以及公司内外部机制的治理作用。特别地，考虑中国特殊的制度环境，国有企业改革导致管理层权力不断提升和膨胀，基于产权性质的视角展开对比研究。以2010年至2014年沪深A股上市公司7 999个观测值为样本，运用SAS 9.2和多元回归方法进行实证研究。        研究结果表明，在管理层权力的作用下，政府补助加剧高管与普通员工之间的薪酬差距，与民营企业相比，国有企业获得的政府补助更能加大薪酬差距；进一步地，将薪酬差距分解为管理层从政府补助中攫取的权力性薪酬差距和剔除政府补助影响后的薪酬差距后发现，权力性薪酬差距起负向激励效应，降低企业未来绩效，并且在国有企业中权力性薪酬差距的负向激励效应更强；剔除政府补助影响后的薪酬差距能够起到正面激励效应，提高企业未来绩效，并且该效应不因产权性质的不同而改变。        深入研究还发现，以董事会和政府干预为代表的内外部机制能够起到有效的治理作用，董事会规模越小、独立董事比例越高、董事会会议次数越多、政府干预程度越高，权力性薪酬差距的负向激励效应越弱。        研究结论不仅为薪酬差距激励效应的研究提供理论上的补充，也为上市公司制定更优的薪酬契约和完善的治理机制提供理论依据和指导。     

公司战略可以解释高管与员工的薪酬差距吗?

如何权衡“公平与效率”,进而设计出有效的薪酬激励契约是保证企业发展的重要问题。文章基于 2003 年 ～ 2014 年 A 股上市公司样本,从公司战略这一独特视角解释高管与员工形成较大薪酬差距的合理成因。研究结果表明,公司战略越趋于进攻型,高管薪酬相对越高,员工薪酬相对越低,公司内部高管与员工的薪酬差距也就越大; 相对于中央和地方国有企业,上述关系在民营企业中表现最为明显。且不同于管理层权力,公司战略引起的内部高管员工薪酬差距能够显著提升投资效率和经营业绩。研究结论对于客观评价公司内部的高管员工薪酬差距进而优化薪酬管制政策具有一定的参考价值。     

创业投资的治理作用:——基于高管薪酬契约设计视角的实证研究

本文选取2009-2012年沪深两市创业板和中小板上市公司为研究对象,研究了创业投资参与对民营和国有企业高管薪酬契约的影响。实证研究发现:(1)创业投资能够显著改变民营企业高管薪酬与业绩的敏感性,但是创业投资并没有显著改变国有企业高管薪酬与业绩的敏感性;(2)对民营企业而言,创业投资参与降低了高管薪酬与会计业绩之间的敏感性,但是提高了高管薪酬与市场业绩敏感性。实证结果表明,创业投资在民营企业高管薪酬制定过程中发挥了作用,创业投资更加重视市场业绩在高管薪酬契约中的作用;创业投资对国有企业高管薪酬契约影响非常有限;创业投资参与民营和国有企业的动机可能存在差异。     

上市公司高管人员薪酬问题实证分析

根据2003年中国A股上市公司年度报告提供的数据,对中国上市公司高管人员的薪酬问题进行了实证分析.分析结果表明,高管人员的年度薪酬与公司经营绩效指标及公司经营规模之间呈现较显著的、稳定的弱正相关关系;从行业因素看,中国上市公司高管人员年度薪酬与行业有关,总体薪酬水平存在明显的行业差异,各公司之间差异显著,高管人均薪酬较低;从地区因素看,中国上市公司高管人员年度薪酬与所处地区的经济水平存在一定的关系;高管人员的年度薪酬与国有股比例之间存在较弱的负相关关系.建议建立年薪制与股票期权制二位一体的薪酬体系,并健全相关的配套措施.     

The managerial power approach: Is it testable?

Journal of Management and Governance - The central hypothesis of the managerial power approach (MPA) states that power is the main driver of executive compensation. The positive impact of power on...     

经理声誉考虑、任务关联性和长期报酬激励的效果研究

为研究如何激励经理努力提高企业未来业绩,假设经理承担着两项任务:声誉激励其提高企业当前业绩,报酬激励其提高未来业绩;在多任务委托代理模型框架下,本文研究了声誉和长期报酬对经理提高未来业绩的激励效果.本文把企业业绩分为当期业绩和长期(即未来)业绩,并假设委托人目标是长期企业业绩最大化,而不是当期业绩最大化.同时本文对经理努力成本函数的假设有重大改进:给出了经理长期和短期努力的具体的成本函数形式,考虑了两种任务即努力间的关联性情况,假设长期努力和当期努力有不同的成本系数.目前相关模型的成本函数最多只能满足以上三个条件中的前两个.因此,运用本文多任务委托代理模型分析得出的结论更明确、直观,并且更符合实际.本文发现,经理不同努力的成本、两项任务之间的关联性对经理的努力行为选择有重要的影响,要激励经理提高企业长期业绩,应该减少经理长期努力的成本或者弱化当期激励.     

Executive Compensation,Sustainable Compensation Policy,Carbon Performance and Market Value

We examine the interrelationships among executive compensation, environmental‐social‐governance‐based (ESG) sustainable compensation policy, carbon performance and market value. Using one of the largest datasets to date, consisting of 4379 firm‐year observations, covering a period of 15 years (2002–2016) from 13 industrialized European countries and insights from neo‐institutional theory (NIT), our findings are fourfold. First, our results suggest that process‐oriented carbon performance is positively associated with market value, whereas actual carbon performance has no effect on market value. Second, we show that the market value–process‐oriented carbon performance nexus is moderated by executive compensation. Third, our results indicate that executive compensation has a positive effect on process‐oriented carbon performance, but has no similar effect on actual carbon performance. Fourth, we show that the process‐oriented carbon performance–executive compensation nexus is reinforced for companies that adopt ESG‐based sustainable compensation policy. Our results are generally robust to controlling for governance mechanisms, alternative measures/estimations and endogeneities. Overall, our evidence supports the legitimization aspect of NIT and suggests that the market tends to reward firms with superior process‐oriented carbon performance instead of undervaluing firms with excessive actual carbon emissions. This implies that firms appear to use incentive‐based mechanisms to symbolically improve their process‐oriented carbon performance without substantively improving their actual carbon performance.     

The configurational effects of board monitoring and the institutional environment on CEO compensation: a country-level fuzzy-set analysis

This study examines the causal complexity of how the effectiveness of board monitoring influences CEO compensation around the world. Previous research drawing from the managerial power theory and ‘increased career risks’ perspective offer alternative arguments for how low and high levels of effective monitoring by boards of directors influence CEO compensation. Adopting a configurational approach using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, we explore the idea that there are multiple causal paths leading to high levels of CEO compensation, such that theoretical logic from both theories may be relevant contingent upon the institutional environment in which the relationship is embedded. Our findings in a sample of 38 countries suggest that high CEO compensation is an outcome of both the presence and absence of effective board monitoring depending upon how it combines with minority investor protections and the cultural dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and individualism, as well as the overall stock market value. Specifically, in countries with high levels of effective board monitoring, high CEO compensation will be more likely when the country’s culture is high in uncertainty avoidance, low in power distance and when there are strong protections for minority investors. Whereas in countries with low levels of effective board monitoring, high CEO compensation will be more likely when power distance is high and uncertainty avoidance is low and when there are weak protections for minority investors. Our country-level study highlights the theoretical strengths of employing a configurational approach to explore the complex interrelationships of governance mechanisms and the contexts in which they manifest.     

Determinanten der Vorstandsvergütung

Using a novel, hand-collected data set covering all German non-financial firms listed in the Prime Standard of FWB (Frankfurt Stock Exchange), we examine determinants of executive compensation in German listed firms. We distinguish three potential determinants: firm characteristics, firm performance, and corporate governance characteristics. While we find that simple firm characteristics like size and industry affiliation together with time effects explain more than 60 % of variation in overall compensation, performance characteristics are economically inconsequential for the explanation of compensation levels. When we distinguish between widely held firms and firms with a large blockholder, we find that the latter grant compensation packages that are smaller, less sensitive to the firm’s stock market performance but more sensitive to the firm’s operating performance. Finally, we confirm that supervisory board characteristics also affect the level of executive compensation in German firms. Overall, our findings suggest that although the corporate governance environment in Germany has changed dramatically during the last decade, German listed firms are still exposed to high agency costs.     

The Effect of Board of Directors’ IT Awareness on CIO Compensation and Firm Performance

Chief information officers (CIOs) play increasingly strategic roles in firms in this competitive global economy, which is now largely powered by information technology (IT). However, research has shown a lack of board of directors’ oversight on CIO‐ and IT‐related issues. Drawing on agency, resource dependence, and alignment theories, we investigate the effect of board of directors’ IT awareness on CIO compensation structure and firm performance. We conduct cross‐sectional time series analyses of data collected from various sources. Our study underlines three important findings. First, we show that some commonly known executive compensation determinants, such as individual characteristics and governance structure, do not have significant effects on CIO compensation structure. Second, with regard to CIO compensation structure, firms respond to increasing information asymmetry differently according to the level of IT awareness of their boards. Finally, firms perform better when their boards have higher levels of IT awareness, and this positive effect of IT awareness is considerably larger in IT intensive industries. Overall, our study provides empirical support for the important role of boards’ IT awareness in shaping CIO compensation and improving firm performance. Our results suggest that boards with functional area knowledge—or higher IT awareness in this case—can more effectively monitor and better incentivize executives, and consequently lead to better firm performance.     

民营上市公司高管人员报酬的决定因素研究

高管报酬的确定并非单纯的技术设计,而是与财务、公司治理机制密切相关的整体.以2002年～2004年深、沪两市的224家民营上市公司为样本,采用面板数据处理方式,实证检验企业绩效、治理机制与高管报酬的相关性.实证结果表明,中国民营上市公司的企业绩效与高管报酬正相关,内部股东比例与高管报酬正相关,外部董事比例与高管报酬负相关;民营上市公司的内部股东比例越大反而带来更高的高管报酬水平,二者之间存在互补关系,说明中国民营上市公司中存在大股东对高管层的赎买行为;外部董事的治理机制可以有效地解决高管层的内部人控制问题,降低代理成本,表明董事会在民营上市公司治理中发挥着重要的战略参与作用.