Firms Responding to the Voice on CEO Compensation

Abstract

This study examines empirically the change of CEO compensation distribution of the companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Index in response to the public voice expressed in media during the period in 1992- 2015. The compensations converge to the central location as the shape of distribution changes from the right-skewed toward a symmetric form with less extremely higher compensations and smaller differences in the CEO compensation amounts. The changes of CEO compensation distribution in response to the public voice indicate the identity as a viable long-term governance mechanism to lessen pay without performance problem.