Date of Award
Spring 2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Management
First Advisor
Thomas, Jacob
Abstract
This essay presents evidence of the gendered effect of firm financial pressures on compensation. For identification, I examine the relation between the gender pay gap and managers’ pressure to meet earnings expectations (i.e., benchmark-beating pressure). Using UK subsidiary-level data for the 2017–2021 period, I find that the gender difference in bonuses increases by 4.23 percentage points in firms that meet or just beat analyst forecasts, compared to firms that miss or comfortably beat analyst expectations, even after controlling for job roles. This suggests that benchmark-beating pressure exacerbates the gender pay gap, consistent with research indicating that women are less likely to resist bonus reductions. Cross-sectional tests further show that this phenomenon only manifests in companies that have limited workplace flexibility, low environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores, and a board with fewer than three female directors.
Recommended Citation
Lee, Lucas Chihuan, "Some Bonuses are Bigger than Others? Benchmark-beating Pressure and the Gender Pay Gap" (2024). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 1389.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/1389
