Henry L. Tosi

How Much Does Performance Matter? A Meta-Analysis of CEO Pay Studies

Through a meta-analytic review of the empirical literature on the determinants of CEO pay, this study tests the hypothesized relationships between firm size, performance, and CEO pay. We show that firm size accounts for more than 40% of the variance in total CEO pay, while firm performance accounts for less than 5% of the variance. We also show that pay sensitivities are relatively similar for both changes in size (5% of the explained variance in pay) and changes in financial performance (4% of the explained variance in pay). The meta-analysis also suggests that moderator variables may play an important role, but we were unable to test for this.

Managerial Control, Performance, and Executive Compensation

Using a sample of 71 very large manufacturers, this study demonstrated that executives in externally controlled firms receive more compensation for performance and less for scale of operation than ...

Contingency Theory: Some Suggested Directions

Common to all contingency approaches is the proposition that performance is a consequence of the fit between several factors: structure, people, technology, strategy, and culture. Unfortunately, unwarranted generalizations and fragmented and conflicting findings exist. These approaches need a greater theoretical grounding of key concepts and richer, more complex models to capture the process by which organizations adapt and change. A model is presented which argues that complex relationships exist among environmental, organizational, and individual/group variables, and that these relationships and their salience change with the strategic and organizational design choices made by members of the dominant coalition.

CEO Compensation Monitoring and firm performance

This study used a behavioral scale assessing the monitoring of the compensation of chief executive officers (CEOs) to test two hypotheses derived from agency theory and the corporate governance lit...

What to Study: Generating and Developing Research Questions

This article presents a review of the book “What to Study: Generating and Developing Research Questions,” by John P. Campbell, Richard L. Daft and Charles L. Hulin.

Life Event Checklists: Revisiting the Social Readjustment Rating Scale after 30 Years

Despite criticism, the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) is one of the most widely cited measurement instruments in the stress literature. This research assesses several criticisms of the SRRS after years of widespread use. Specifically, the authors evaluate content-related criticisms, including differential prediction of desirable relative to undesirable life events, controllable relative to uncontrollable life events, and contaminated relative to uncontaminated life event items. On balance, the authors find that the SRRS is a useful tool for stress researchers and practitioners.

Other People's Money: The Effects of Ownership on Compensation Strategy and Managerial Pay

This study analyzes the compensation strategy of firms. We examined differences in the pay and incentives of lower-level managers in firms with different levels of management discretion. We found t...

Goal Characteristics and Personality Factors in a Management-by-Objectives Program.

This study correlated different characteristics of goals established in a management-by-objectives program to criteria hypothesized to represent success of the program. The correlations were calculated after personality and job factors were held constant. The results indicate that establishing clear and important goals produced favorable results especially for certain personality types. Difficulty of goals and establishing goal priorities were positively correlated with criteria of success for certain types of managers. Subordinate influence over goals was not found to be an important goal characteristic.

Organization Stress as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Influence and Role Response

Some aspects of the role-taking model proposed by Kahn, et al., (1964) are examined; role conflict is significantly related to job satisfaction and job threat and anxiety, but not to an effectivene...

Effort, Performance, and Conscientiousness: An Agency Theory Perspective

The authors examine the moderating effects of conscientiousness on the relationships between agency controls and effort and agency controls and task performance. Results show that less conscientious individuals appear to increase effort through incentive alignment and monitoring, whereas conscientious individuals do not shirk with or without agency controls. Furthermore, results show that less conscientious individuals increase task performance through incentive alignment, but not through monitoring. The study confirms that motivation to act opportunistically differs between individuals unlike what is assumed by agency theory. Also, incentive alignment may be more effective than monitoring when attempting to align principal and agent interests.