Title: Pay ratio and operational efficiency

Authors: KwangJoo Koo

Addresses: School of Business Administration, College of Economics and Business Administration, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehak-ro, Sangyeok-dong, Buk-gu, Daegu, 41566, South Korea

Abstract: Using a comprehensive US sample over the period 1995-2010, we examine the effects of CEO-to-employee pay ratios on operational efficiency. We have found evidence that the pay ratio is negatively associated with firm efficiency. This means that employees perceive higher pay ratios as an inequitable outcome that discourages their collaborations and leads to dissatisfaction with their working environments. We conduct a battery of tests to alleviate the endogenous nature of pay ratios and a variety of other sensitivity tests. We also find that the association is more pronounced when collaborative working environments are better, as in cases of: 1) firms with lower default risk; 2) firms with lower financial analysts' attention; 3) firms with stronger less severe risk-aversion. Our paper provides significant evidence for the ongoing policy debate over pay inequality on firm operations.

Keywords: pay ratio; social comparison; tournament theory; firm efficiency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMFA.2023.133792

International Journal of Managerial and Financial Accounting, 2023 Vol.15 No.4, pp.507 - 533

Received: 04 Oct 2021
Accepted: 21 Jan 2022
Published online: 03 Oct 2023 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article