IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/uea/aepppr/2010_17.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Corporate Culture and the Tournament Hypothesis

Author

Listed:
  • Neslihan Ozkan

    (University of Bristol)

  • Oleksandr Talavera

    (School of Economics, University of East Anglia)

  • Anna Zalewska

    (University of Bath)

Abstract

The empirical literature on the effect of dispersion of executive remuneration (i.e., the intensity of a tournament structure) on the comparative performance of companies is mixed. Studies on US data tend to find strong positive effects but non-US studies tend to fail to find an effect. This suggests that tournaments are likely to be more effective in some situations than others. Using UK data we are able to exploit differences between companies as they become more ‘Americanised’ to provide some insight into this question. In the UK there has been a change towards the use of the US terminology CEO and away from the more tradition UK nomenclature of MD. A minority of UK companies retain the terminology MD. Also in some UK companies the top executive is a US citizen. Both these may tell us something about the culture of the company. We test whether tournaments are more likely to be effective if the company calls it top executive CEO and also if there is a US CEO. We find that increasing the dispersion of remuneration is no more effective for companies with CEOs than for MDs. However, we find that the situation is different when we look at companies with US CEOs relative to the rest of the sample. Here we find that increasing the dispersion is associated with better company performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Neslihan Ozkan & Oleksandr Talavera & Anna Zalewska, 2010. "Corporate Culture and the Tournament Hypothesis," University of East Anglia Applied and Financial Economics Working Paper Series 017, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    • Handle: RePEc:uea:aepppr:2010_17
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ueaeco.github.io/working-papers/papers/afe/UEA-AFE-017.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kin Lee & Baruch Lev & Gillian Yeo, 2008. "Executive pay dispersion, corporate governance, and firm performance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 315-338, April.
    2. Ang, James & Lauterbach, Beni & Schreiber, Ben Z., 2002. "Pay at the executive suite: How do US banks compensate their top management teams?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1143-1163, June.
    3. Lazear, Edward P, 1989. "Pay Equality and Industrial Politics," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(3), pages 561-580, June.
    4. Main, Brian G M & O'Reilly, Charles A, III & Wade, James, 1993. "Top Executive Pay: Tournament or Teamwork?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 11(4), pages 606-628, October.
    5. Franks, Julian & Mayer, Colin & Renneboog, Luc, 2001. "Who Disciplines Management in Poorly Performing Companies?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 10(3-4), pages 209-248, July.
    6. Martin J. Conyon & Simon I. Peck & Graham V. Sadler, 2001. "Corporate tournaments and executive compensation: Evidence from the U.K," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(8), pages 805-815, August.
    7. Eriksson, Tor, 1999. "Executive Compensation and Tournament Theory: Empirical Tests on Danish Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(2), pages 262-280, April.
    8. Rajesh K. Aggarwal & Andrew A. Samwick, 2003. "Performance Incentives within Firms: The Effect of Managerial Responsibility," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1613-1650, August.
    9. Barron, John M. & Waddell, Glen R., 2003. "Executive rank, pay and project selection," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 305-349, February.
    10. Cornett, Marcia Millon & Marcus, Alan J. & Saunders, Anthony & Tehranian, Hassan, 2007. "The impact of institutional ownership on corporate operating performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1771-1794, June.
    11. Karen L Newman & Stanley D Nollen, 1996. "Culture and Congruence: The Fit Between Management Practices and national Culture," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 27(4), pages 753-779, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Zalewska, Anna, 2014. "Gentlemen do not talk about money: Remuneration dispersion and firm performance relationship on British boards," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 40-57.
    2. Vo, Thi Thanh Nha & Canil, Jean Milva, 2019. "CEO pay disparity: Efficient contracting or managerial power?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 168-190.
    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. 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.
    5. Jiawei Si, 2021. "Executive Remuneration In The Public Sector: How Different To The Private Sector?," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 21-09, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    6. Kin Lee & Baruch Lev & Gillian Yeo, 2008. "Executive pay dispersion, corporate governance, and firm performance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 315-338, April.
    7. João Paulo Vieito & António Cerqueira & Elísio Brandão & Walayet A. Khan, 2009. "Executive Compensation: the Finance Perspective," Portuguese Journal of Management Studies, ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa, vol. 0(1), pages 3-32.
    8. Lin, Ying-Fen & Yeh, Yaying Mary Chou & Shih, Yu-Ting, 2013. "Tournament theory's perspective of executive pay gaps," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(5), pages 585-592.
    9. 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.
    10. Cui, Victor & Ding, Waverly W. & Yanadori, Yoshio, 2019. "Exploration versus exploitation in technology firms: The role of compensation structure for R&D workforce," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 1534-1549.
    11. Peiyi Yu & Bac Luu, 2016. "Bank performance and executive pay: tournament or teamwork," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 607-643, October.
    12. Jermias, Johnny & Mahmoudian, Fereshteh, 2024. "Investigating the joint effect of competitive strategies and pay gap on ESG performance," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2).
    13. Egon Franck & Stephan Nüesch, 2007. "Wage Dispersion and Team Performance - An Empirical Panel Analysis," Working Papers 0017, University of Zurich, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA).
    14. Tor Eriksson & Sabrina Teyssier & Marie‐Claire Villeval, 2009. "Self‐Selection And The Efficiency Of Tournaments," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 47(3), pages 530-548, July.
    15. Kampkötter, Patrick & Sliwka, Dirk, 2011. "Differentiation and Performance: An Empirical Investigation on the Incentive Effects of Bonus Plans," IZA Discussion Papers 6070, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Fredrik Heyman, 2005. "Pay inequality and firm performance: evidence from matched employer-employee data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(11), pages 1313-1327.
    17. Thierry Lallemand & Robert Plasman & François Rycx, 2005. "La dispersion salariale stimule-t-elle la performance d'une firme ?," Reflets et perspectives de la vie économique, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(2), pages 63-70.
    18. Vicente Cuñat & Maria Guadalupe, 2009. "Globalization and the Provision of Incentives inside the Firm: The Effect of Foreign Competition," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 179-212, April.
    19. Dinara Alpysbayeva & Jozef Konings & Venkat Subramanian & Aigerim Yergabulova, 2022. "Wage dispersion and firm performance: evidence from Kazakhstan," Working Papers 2022/01, Nazarbayev University, Graduate School of Business.
    20. Firth, Michael & Leung, Tak Yan & Rui, Oliver M., 2010. "Justifying top management pay in a transitional economy," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 852-866, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Executive compensation; incentive pay; firm performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • L29 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Other

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:uea:aepppr:2010_17. 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: Cara Liggins (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esueauk.html .

    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.