the performance targets included in the compensation contract and that of the CEO’s peer compensation. In the next section of the paper, we develop specific hypotheses about the effect compensation framing relative to these two alternative reference points may have on executive risk-taking behavior. CEOs who perceive firm performance above the performance targets specified in the compensation agreement or who perceive their compensation is greater than that of their peers, we predict will decrease risk taking. Conversely, when chief executives perceive they are not achieving their performance targets or feel their compensation is below their peer’s compensation, they will show a preference for greater risk taking. We test the accuracy of our predictions in a sample of 108 CEOs of USA firms that went public between 1993 and 1995. From an empirical point of view, our study provides the first test of a central proposition of the BAM: risk bearing partially mediates the influence of compensation framing on risk taking.