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Chief executive compensation: A synthesis and reconciliation
Author(s) -
Finkelstein Sidney,
Hambrick Donald C.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
strategic management journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 11.035
H-Index - 286
eISSN - 1097-0266
pISSN - 0143-2095
DOI - 10.1002/smj.4250090603
Subject(s) - executive compensation , compensation (psychology) , politics , symbol (formal) , phenomenon , law and economics , business , sociology , positive economics , psychology , management , public relations , political science , social psychology , economics , law , epistemology , computer science , philosophy , programming language
Chief executive (CEO) compensation is a potent instrument through which theorists can improve their understanding of organization substance and symbol. This paper reviews and integrates the literature on CEO compensation, focusing on both determinants and consequences of this complex, often controversial phenomenon. The central thesis is that CEO pay is at once both more and less ‘sensible’ than its critics and architects, respectively, contend. Comprehending CEO compensation, whether for purposes of description or prescription, requires the use of multiple perspectives—economic, political, social, and individual.