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Perceived unfairness in CEO compensation and work morale

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  • Cornelißen, T.
  • Himmler, O.
  • Koenig, T.

Abstract

CEO compensation that is perceived to be excessive regularly causes agitation in the population. Using German data, we show that perceiving CEO pay to be unfair has economic repercussions in terms of lower work morale.

Suggested Citation

  • Cornelißen, T. & Himmler, O. & Koenig, T., 2011. "Perceived unfairness in CEO compensation and work morale," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 45-48, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:110:y:2011:i:1:p:45-48
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    Cited by:

    1. Cornelissen, Thomas & Himmler, Oliver & Koenig, Tobias, 2013. "Fairness spillovers—The case of taxation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 164-180.
    2. Han, Feng & Tee, Kienpin & Hao, Siyuan & Xiong, Rancen, 2024. "Does unfairness reduce efficiency? Within-industry CEO pay inequity and firm efficiency in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PA).
    3. Adrian Chadi & Laszlo Goerke, 2015. "Missing at Work – Sickness-related Absence and Subsequent Job Mobility," IAAEU Discussion Papers 201504, Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU).
    4. Beckmann, Michael & Cornelissen, Thomas & Kräkel, Matthias, 2017. "Self-managed working time and employee effort: Theory and evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 285-302.
    5. Schneck, Stefan, 2014. "My Wage is Unfair! Just a Feeling or Comparison with Peers?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 1(3), pages 245-273.
    6. Block, Jörn & Goerke, Laszlo & Millán, José María & Román, Concepción, 2014. "Family employees and absenteeism," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 94-99.
    7. Kuhn, Andreas, 2015. "The Individual Perception of Wage Inequality: A Measurement Framework and Some Empirical Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 9579, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Jochen Hundsdoerfer & Eva Matthaei, 2022. "Gender Discriminatory Taxes, Fairness Perception, and Labor Supply," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 78(1-2), pages 156-207.
    9. Ciccia, Diego & Distefano, Rosaria & Reito, Francesco, 2022. "The mismatch between potential and actual shirking in a model of bureaucracy," MPRA Paper 115452, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Chadi, Adrian & de Pinto, Marco & Schultze, Gabriel, 2019. "Young, gifted and lazy? The role of ability and labor market prospects in student effort decisions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 66-79.
    11. Andreas Kuhn, 2016. "The Subversive Nature of Inequality: Subjective Inequality Perceptions and Attitudes to Social Inequality," CESifo Working Paper Series 6023, CESifo.
    12. Schröder Carsten & König Johannes & Fedorets Alexandra & Goebel Jan & Grabka Markus M. & Lüthen Holger & Metzing Maria & Schikora Felicitas & Liebig Stefan, 2020. "The economic research potentials of the German Socio-Economic Panel study," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 21(3), pages 335-371, September.
    13. Chadi, Adrian & Goerke, Laszlo, 2018. "Missing at work – Sickness-related absence and subsequent career events," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 153-176.
    14. Firth, Michael & Leung, Tak Yan & Rui, Oliver M. & Na, Chaohong, 2015. "Relative pay and its effects on firm efficiency in a transitional economy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 59-77.
    15. Andreas Kuhn, 2010. "The Public Perception and Normative Valuation of Executive Compensation: An International Comparison," NRN working papers 2010-13, The Austrian Center for Labor Economics and the Analysis of the Welfare State, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    16. Hundsdoerfer, Jochen & Matthaei, Eva Kristina, 2020. "Gender discriminatory taxes, fairness perception, and labor supply," Discussion Papers 2020/6, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    17. Liping Fu & Shan Zhang & Fan Wu, 2022. "The Impact of Compensation Gap on Corporate Innovation: Evidence from China’s Pharmaceutical Industry," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-14, February.
    18. Andreas Kuhn, 2020. "The individual (mis-)perception of wage inequality: measurement, correlates and implications," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 2039-2069, November.
    19. Andreas Kuhn, 2017. "International Evidence on the Perception and Normative Valuation of Executive Compensation," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(1), pages 112-136, March.
    20. Stephan, Gesine & Dütsch, Matthias & Gückelhorn, Cathrin & Struck, Olaf, 2014. "When are bonus payments for managers perceived as fair? Results from a quasi-experiment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 130-133.
    21. Kuhn, Andreas, 2015. "The Subversive Nature of Inequality: Subjective Inequality Perceptions and Attitudes to Social Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 9406, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    22. Dai, Yunhao & Kong, Dongmin & Xu, Jin, 2017. "Does fairness breed efficiency? Pay gap and firm productivity in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 406-422.
    23. Distefano, Rosaria, 2022. "Better to be in the same boat: Positional envy in the workplace," MPRA Paper 115396, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fairness Social comparisons Work morale;

    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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