The impact of relative CEO compensation on not-for-profit contributions
Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management
ISSN: 1096-3367
Article publication date: 20 September 2021
Issue publication date: 9 March 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The authors extend research suggesting that external funders reduce their contributions to not-for-profit (NFP) organizations in response to media-reported CEO compensation levels.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing a maximum archival sample of 44,807 observations from US Form 990s, the authors comprehensively assess the extent that high relative NFP CEO compensation is associated with decreases in future contributions.
Findings
The authors find that donors and grantors react negatively to high relative CEO compensation but do not react adversely to high absolute executive compensation. Contributors seem to take issue with CEO compensation when they perceive it absorbs a relatively large portion of the organizations’ total expenses, which may hinder the NFP’s mission. Additional findings suggest that excess cash held by the NFP significantly exacerbates the negative baseline relationship between future contributions and high relative CEO compensation. Finally, both individual donors and professional grantors are sensitive to cash NFP CEO compensation levels, but grantors are more sensitive to CEO noncash compensation.
Research limitations/implications
The authors’ data are focused on larger NFP organizations, so this limits the generalizability of the study. Furthermore, survivorship bias potentially influences their time-series investigations because a current year large-scale decrease in funding due to high relative CEO compensation may cause some NFP firms to drop out of the sample the following year due to significant funding reductions.
Originality/value
The study makes three noteworthy contributions to the literature. First, the study documents that the negative association between high relative CEO compensation levels and future donor and grantor contributions is much more widespread than previous literature suggested. Second, the authors document that high relative CEO compensation levels that trigger reductions in future contributions are significantly exacerbated by excess cash held by the NFP. Finally, the authors find that more sophisticated grantors are more sensitive to noncash CEO compensation levels as compared with donors.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the editor, associate editor, anonymous reviewer, Linda Myers, Lauren Cunningham, James Myers, Junhee Han, Dean DeCock, workshop participants at the University of Arkansas, and conference participants at the AAA Annual Meeting and Academy of Management Conference for their helpful comments.
Funding: The study did not receive funding from any source.
Compliance with ethical standards:
Informed consent: The authors used archival data so informed consent for the use of human subjects was not necessary.
Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Citation
Kaden, S., Peters, G., Sanchez, J.M. and Fleischman, G.M. (2022), "The impact of relative CEO compensation on not-for-profit contributions", Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 210-237. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBAFM-03-2021-0039
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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