Human capital, pay structure, and the use of performance
measures in bonus compensation
Sally K. Widener ∗
Abstract
Traditional financial measures have been criticized for lacking relevance in today’s economy where firms are
increasingly competing with intangible assets. However, perhaps this criticism is not detrimental to firms if they
take actions to supplement the information contained in financial measures. Thus, it is important to explore whether
and when firms recognize this potential deficiency and take action to acquire the appropriate information. This
study hypothesizes that two human resource variables, reliance on human capital and the firm’s pay structure, are
associated with the use of non-financial measures in top managers’ bonus compensation contracts since they provide
information incremental to that provided by traditional financial measures. Using archival data from 177 firms, I
estimate binary and multi-response ordered logit models. The binary logit model provides evidence that laborintensive
firms have a higher probability of placing emphasis on non-financial measures (along with traditional
financial measures) and a lower probability of relying solely on traditional financial measures. Moreover, this
relationship is moderated by the firm’s pay structure. Analysis shows that the relationship is stronger in firms that
employ a hierarchical pay structure. Furthermore, the multi-response logit model extends these finding by showing
that these firms also have a higher probability of relying on human resource measures.
© 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Human capital, pay structure, and the use of performancemeasures in bonus compensationSally K. Widener ∗AbstractTraditional financial measures have been criticized for lacking relevance in today’s economy where firms areincreasingly competing with intangible assets. However, perhaps this criticism is not detrimental to firms if theytake actions to supplement the information contained in financial measures. Thus, it is important to explore whetherand when firms recognize this potential deficiency and take action to acquire the appropriate information. Thisstudy hypothesizes that two human resource variables, reliance on human capital and the firm’s pay structure, areassociated with the use of non-financial measures in top managers’ bonus compensation contracts since they provideinformation incremental to that provided by traditional financial measures. Using archival data from 177 firms, Iestimate binary and multi-response ordered logit models. The binary logit model provides evidence that laborintensivefirms have a higher probability of placing emphasis on non-financial measures (along with traditionalfinancial measures) and a lower probability of relying solely on traditional financial measures. Moreover, thisrelationship is moderated by the firm’s pay structure. Analysis shows that the relationship is stronger in firms thatemploy a hierarchical pay structure. Furthermore, the multi-response logit model extends these finding by showingว่า บริษัทเหล่านี้ยังได้ความสูงของพึ่งวัดทรัพยากรบุคคล© 2005 Elsevier จำกัด สงวนลิขสิทธิ์ทั้งหมด
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