| Abstrakt: |
The widening pay gap between CEOs and employees has raised significant societal concerns, prompting research to explore its causes. Given conflicting findings on causes of pay gaps, this study addresses the issue by introducing CEO religiosity as a novel antecedent, grounded in upper echelons theory. Drawing on previous research on the impact of CEO characteristics on pay dispersion and disparity, particularly the impact of political ideology, we propose a values-driven approach to understand variations in pay gaps among firms. We argue that religiosity, as a personality characteristic strongly tied to morality and risk aversion, offers a more nuanced perspective on the causes of pay gaps than previously researched antecedents. Using data of S&P 500 firms for the years 2000-2022, we confirm the hypotheses that CEO religiosity correlates with lower pay dispersion to employees outside of the top management team (TMT), reduced vertical pay disparity from the CEO to the TMT, and diminished horizontal pay disparity within the TMT. This study contributes to understanding of the values underpinning pay setting and supports CEO religiosity as a significant personality characteristic influencing corporate decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
