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Much prior work involving director incentives and corporate behaviour has been focussing on their absolute dollar value or the intrinsic value and generated mixed findings. Comparison theories, however, suggest that the relative value of an incentive may be the main drive for individual performance. This study attempts to investigate the role of director relative pay in promoting the board’s intervention with unrelated diversification decisions.

The analysis uses data from firms operating in more than one segment during the period from 1999 to 2019. Data were obtained from WRDS databases. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis and the two-stage system generalized method of moments (GMM) were run to test the hypotheses. To test the robustness of the findings, alternative proxies for the key independent variables were used in separate analyses.

The results support the hypothesis that unrelated diversification negatively impact firm performance, while higher director relative pay will help reduce unrelated business diversification. The absolute director pay, however, has no significant impact on corporate strategic choices. The results also highlight the moderating effect of director overcompensation. Director overcompensation will cancel out the impact of relative director pay on unrelated diversification.

This study takes a fresh theoretical perspective by framing the investigation using the dimensional comparison theory to address the single untended comparison framework in the director pay structure – the intra-individual framework. It is the first to investigate the role of director relative pay in corporate strategic choices. The findings support the contention that the relative value of the incentive is an important indicator of the effectiveness of the pay.

This study explores the psychological determinants of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) use in the UK and reviews the efficacy of existing payment constructs.

A total of 533 BNPL users engaged in story stem completion. Template analysis was used, supported by the identification of four BNPL sentiment groups to enable comparison.

Whilst positive attitudes towards BNPL dominate, other psychological determinants are apparent to a varied extent. Psychological distance and ownership of borrowed money are redolent, while transparency and transaction convenience are less appreciable. BNPL users understand temporality beyond its current conceptualizations. Some users construe BNPL as a “savings” product, and hence payment format conceptualizations may be erroneous. Those with a positive sentiment foreground BNPL’s consumption and budget management benefits. However, the potential for unintended consequences is manifest across all users.

The potentially unwanted consequences, or dark side, of BNPL use in the UK are highlighted. The specified constructs, whilst helpful, do not particularize the complex interconnected nature of the psychological determinants of BNPL use. Improved conceptualization offering richness and clarity is needed – temporality specifically requires consideration.

Users’ sophistication and misunderstanding are both evident, necessitating fuller conversations among various stakeholders, including, providers, policymakers, consumers and advocacy groups.

This research advances the scarce literature exploring consumers’ BNPL use determinants and challenges current conceptualizations surrounding payment format perceptions.

After completion of this case study, students/managers will be able to analyze reasons for the labor unrest at Wistron Corporation’s Indian manufacturing plant; examine the implementation of labor regulations applicable to the employment of contract workers by Wistron Corporation; infer the problems associated with rapid expansion in the workforce; analyze the labor regulatory challenges faced by Wistron Corporation; and demonstrate problem-solving skills.

The focus of this case study was the crisis faced by Apple’s contract manufacturer  –  Wistron Corporation due to labor unrest, riots and violence in its production facility located near Bangalore in India. This case study discussed the CEO’s dilemma in resolving the crisis and regaining the confidence of stakeholders, namely, the contract employees, Apple Inc. and the State Government of Karnataka. To give the readers an overview of the crisis – this case discussed in detail the underlying reasons for the labor unrest such as a rapid increase in manpower, unilateral increase in working hours without extra pay, unjustified pay cuts, understaffed and underqualified human resources (HR) department, ill-equipped attendance and payroll system. It also gave an overview of mistakes in labor management that could be avoided by a manufacturing firm. The case also discussed the pressure faced by the Wistron CEO due to probation and a new business freeze by Apple Inc. This case study is suitable for understanding the complexities of labor laws and the legal complications that can arise when a corporation disregards local labor laws while operating in foreign countries.

The case is best suited for postgraduate and executive MBA students studying labor law, industrial psychology and HR management in commerce and business management streams. The authors suggest that the instructor should inform students to read the case study before attending the 90-min session. It can be executed in the classroom after discussing the theoretical concepts.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

This paper aims to empirically examine the impact of mandatory CSR disclosure on the CEO pay performance sensitivity.

Using the mandatory requirement of CSR disclosure as an exogenous shock, the authors compare the changes in CEO pay performance sensitivity for treatment firms with control firms through a difference-in-difference (DiD) approach.

The authors find that mandatory CSR disclosure enhances CEO pay performance sensitivity. The results also show that monitoring CEO power is a conduit through which mandatory CSR disclosure affects CEO pay performance sensitivity. The positive impact is more profound in firms with a powerful CEO, i.e. one who is politically well-connected, holds dual roles as both CEO and Chairman, and/or has had a long tenure. Furthermore, the increased CEO pay performance sensitivity after the mandate is prominent among state-owned enterprises (SOEs) only.

The findings of this paper have implications for other economies with similar institutional backgrounds as China. Although the mandatory CSR disclosure does not require firms to spend on CSR investment, the mandatory CSR disclosure alters firm behaviour, and mitigates agency problems.

This paper contributes to the studies on the impact of CSR disclosure on firms' behaviour. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effects of mandatory CSR disclosure on CEO pay performance sensitivity using the quasi-natural experiment settings.

The purpose of the paper is to explore the long-run impact of board governance and bank performance on executive remuneration. More specifically, the study addresses two objectives. First, the authors investigate the long-run relationship between pay and performance hold for the Indian banking industry. Second, the authors explore the moderating role of the board in explaining the relationship between executive pay and performance.

The study uses multivariate panel co-integration approaches, i.e. fully modified and dynamic ordinary least square, to explain the co-integrating relationship between executive pay, governance and performance of Indian banks. The analysis is conducted for the period from 2005 to 2018.

The results of co-integration tests reveal a long-run relationship between executive pay, board governance and bank performance. The long-run estimates produce evidence in favour of the dynamic agency theory, suggesting that the implications of asymmetric information can be mitigated by associating the current executive pay with the bank performance in the previous periods. The finding of this study reveals that improvements in the board quality serve as a monitoring tool to constrain excessive pay and moderate the executives’ pay. Furthermore, the interaction of performance and board governance negatively impacts pay, supporting a substitution approach. It implies that setting optimal pay packages for executives necessitates enhanced and efficient board governance practices.

The study recommends significant policy implications for regulators and the board of directors that executive pay significantly responds to the bank’s performance and good board governance practices in the long run.

This paper provides novel evidence of long-run pay-performance-governance relation using a panel co-integration approach.

The rapid growth of the mobile money industry has been matched by a rise in mobile money fraud. The technology required to apprehend perpetrators of such fraud is nonexistent in most developing countries. Hence, the need for individuals to be willing to pay for insurance against such frauds is crucial. This paper aims to examine individuals’ willingness to pay for insurance against mobile money fraud in Ghana.

The paper uses nationally representative data collected from 4,266 adults (persons 18 years and above) in Ghana. Individuals’ willingness to pay premiums for protection against mobile money fraud was elicited by a single-bound dichotomous choice and open-ended contingent valuation designs.

On average, 24.34% of Ghanaians are willing to pay premiums for insurance against mobile money frauds, with more men (26.37%) being willing than women (22.56%). Similarly, the average monthly premium that men are willing to pay for protection against mobile money fraud is GH¢32.16 (US$8.16), while that of women is GH¢22.5 (US$5.62). Furthermore, the results show that years of schooling, income, previous fraud experience, and using the accounts for saving are all positively associated with willingness to pay. However, using other networks apart from MTN has a negative association with willingness to pay.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that examines willingness to pay for insurance against mobile money fraud. Thus, this is the first that estimate quantitatively how much mobile account holders will pay as premiums for insurance against mobile money fraud.

The purpose of this study is threefold: to examine the impact of a remuneration committee (RC) on the level of chief executive officer (CEO) remuneration; whether firms with a RC, pay a premium to CEOs with different skill sets (general or specific); and whether a pay premium mitigates the potential for CEO turnover.

This study uses a sample of 5,305 firm-year observations on a data set drawn from companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange for the period 2007 to 2014. The authors use ordinary least squares as well as logit regression techniques to test the formulated hypotheses. Difference in difference and propensity score matching techniques were undertaken to address the endogeneity concerns.

The findings show that firms with a RC pay a higher total remuneration to CEOs compared to firms without a RC. Furthermore, firms with a RC, value and reward CEOs with general skills by paying a premium not offered to CEOs with industry-specific skills. Paying a premium, in turn, mitigates CEO turnover by strengthening the CEO’s commitment to the organisation.

The study helps us to understand the critical role played by the RC in the remuneration of CEOs. The findings show that RCs act as an effective governance mechanism to deal with issues of executive remuneration and to retain skilled CEOs. Additionally, CEOs who acquire and develop general managerial skills will be able to extract higher pay from improved bargaining power. The findings will be of relevance to shareholders, regulators and company management who have an interest in executive pay and performance.

This study aims to examine why women transition from wage work to self-employed entrepreneurship, the seemingly insecure and unruly economic sector compared with the stable iron rice bowl and the fancy spring rice jobs.

Based on in-depth interviews in Zhejiang, the entrepreneurial hotbed in coastal China, this study examines the experiences of self-employed female entrepreneurs who used to work in the iron rice bowl and the spring rice jobs and explores their nonconventional career transition and its gendered implications.

This study finds that these women quit their previous jobs to escape from gendered suppression in wage work where their femininity was stereotyped, devalued or disciplined. By working for themselves, these women embrace a rubber rice bowl that allows them to improvise different forms of femininity that are better rewarded and recognized.

The study contributes to studies on gender and work by framing femininity as a fluid rather than a fixed set of qualities and fills the research gap by illustrating women’s agency in reacting to gender expectations in certain workplaces. The study develops a new concept of rubber rice bowl to describe how entrepreneurship, a seemingly women-unfriendly sphere, attracts women by allowing them to comply with, resist, or improvise normative gender expectations.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a systematic literature review on the sunk cost effect from consumers’ perspectives. By applying a comprehensive approach, this paper aims to synthesise and discuss the impact of financial and behavioural sunk costs on consumers’ decisions, judgements and behaviour before and after purchasing. This study also identifies potential research avenues to inspire further studies.

Following a search in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, a systematic literature review was conducted by identifying and analysing 56 peer-reviewed articles published between 1985 and 2022 (November). Descriptive and content analysis was implemented based on the selected papers to examine and synthesise the effect of sunk costs on consumers’ choices, evaluations and actions in a comprehensive approach; uncover research gaps; and recommend paths for future research.

The research results found in the literature are discussed according to five related themes: factors affecting the sunk cost effect; the impact of past investments on purchasing decisions; consumers’ post-purchasing evaluation, behaviour and choices; the mental amortisation of price; and the sunk cost effect on loyalty and switching.

The originality of this study lies in the comprehensive approach to the sunk cost effect from consumers’ perspectives. This review paper synthesises and discusses the research results found in the literature related to financial and behavioural sunk costs that can influence consumers’ decisions, judgements and behaviour before and after paying for a good or service.

Agency theory motivated this study, posing that leverage mitigates the agency problem. The aim was to examine whether leverage influences the relationship between executive-employee pay gaps (EEPGs) and firm performance. The study was conducted in the mining and retail sectors between 2012 and 2021.

Two EEPGs were featured based on their executive fixed pay and variable incentives accumulation. Proxies of firm performance were headline earnings per share; return on assets; earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation; and return on stock price. Data were collected from 76 JSE-listed firms in the retail and mining sectors and analysed using the two-step generalised method of moments.

The results revealed the hybrid implication of the pay gap for firm performance in the retail and mining sectors of South Africa, depending on the performance measures emphasised. More importantly, the study shows that with the moderating effects of leverage, firms can improve their performance while shrinking the pay gap.

The results have implications for policy addressing income inequality, debt management, executive compensation and regulatory reforms in South Africa concerning productivity and remuneration decisions.

The article provides specific literature for retail and mining industries on pay gaps, shows that it is possible to reduce the pay gap without compromising performance and suggests a new measure of performance that is more attuned to pay gap effect measurement.