Directors' compensation. What really matters?

Acero Fraile, Isabel (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Alcalde Fradejas, Nuria (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: In the current scenario of increasing social inequality, the debate over the compensation received by directors and executives of large listed companies, and its justification, has intensified. Drawing on Agency Theory and Human Capital Theory, a multilevel analytical technique is used in this paper to examine the influence of firm-level variables and director-level variables on the individual compensation of the members of the board. The results obtained for the continental European context (Spain in particular) partially support the Human Capital Theory. Nevertheless, there is no evidence supportive of Agency Theory, as corporate governance mechanisms do not contribute to moderate the compensation of directors and there is no relationship between corporate performance and the compensation of directors. The analyses by subsamples (categories of directors) reveal that non-executive director’s compensation seems to be set for a group of individuals as a whole, depending mainly on firm-level characteristics, whereas executive director compensation is more based on the unique characteristics that a particular executive brings to the board.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.3846/jbem.2020.11788

Año: 2020

Publicado en: Journal of Business Economics and Management 21, 1 (2020), 180-199
ISSN: 1611-1699

Factor impacto JCR: 2.028 (2020)

Categ. JCR: ECONOMICS rank: 177 / 376 = 0.471 (2020) - Q2 - T2
Categ. JCR: BUSINESS rank: 126 / 153 = 0.824 (2020) - Q4 - T3

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.484 - Economics and Econometrics (Q2) - Business, Management and Accounting (miscellaneous) (Q2)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/S52-17R
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/ECO2016-77-P
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/UZ/JIUZ-2017-SOC-01

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Organización de Empresas (Dpto. Direcc.Organiza.Empresas)