If executive compensation is based on a company’s performance, then the question naturally arises as to the factors that affect the pay–performance relationship. Zhang and Shi (2005) find that executive compensation is more sensitive to firm performance in firms with higher proportions of independent directors, within the compensation committees of boards of directors and where the roles of chief executive officer (CEO) and board chairperson are separated. Xiao and Peng (2004) also find that pay–performance sensitivity is lower when the CEO is also the chairperson of the board. The relationship is again asymmetric: it increases with an improvement in firm performance, but decreases as firm performance deteriorates. Liu et al. (2007) shows that the usefulness of accounting performance in compensation contracts is influenced by the institutional environment, in that accounting information in executive compensation contracts is less useful when there is a greater degree of government intervention and more useful for companies in more competitive industries. Wu and Wu (2010) find that the level of compensation increases with the level of managerial control and that the control effect is more pronounced in non-government-controlled companies than in their government-controlled counterparts.
Another stream of research investigates the effect of accounting information quality on pay–performance sensitivity. Bi and Zhou (2007) show that accounting information quality has a negative effect on the relationship between executive compensation and accounting performance, and that the negative effect varies with the institutional environment. Ke et al. (2011) similarly show that after the adoption of more principle-based accounting standards, the sensitivity of executive compensation and accounting performance declines significantly.
Another factor that affects the relationship between executive compensation and firm performance is the market environment in which a firm operates. Xin and Tan (2009) examine the effect of market reform on compensation contracts in government-controlled companies and find that more developed markets boost the sensitivity of executive compensation to firm performance.