Gender differences in CEO risk tolerance: A look at fixed pay

Susan Elkinawy, Ann Marie Hibbert and Bakhtear Talukdar

Global Finance Journal, 2023, vol. 57, issue C

Abstract: The number of female Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in the United States has increased significantly over the past two decades. Using a sample that includes this greater representation of female CEOs, we revisit whether CEO compensation packages reflect the standard agency theoretical prediction that CEOs who are more (less) risk-averse should be incentivized to take on greater (less) risk. Our findings are at odds with these predictions, as we provide evidence that the well-documented gender difference in risk tolerance among CEOs is reflected in their compensation packages. While total CEO compensation is roughly equal between men and women, female CEOs earn significantly higher salaries, especially at larger firms.

Keywords: CEO salary; Corporate governance; Female CEO; Gender; Risk tolerance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G34 G41 J16 J3 J44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1044028323000479
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:glofin:v:57:y:2023:i:c:s1044028323000479

DOI: 10.1016/j.gfj.2023.100852

Access Statistics for this article

Global Finance Journal is currently edited by Manuchehr Shahrokhi

More articles in Global Finance Journal from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().