Relative Performance Evaluation, Sabotage and Collusion
85 Pages Posted: 31 Mar 2020 Last revised: 3 Oct 2022
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Relative Performance Evaluation, Sabotage and Collusion
Relative Performance Evaluation, Sabotage and Collusion
Date Written: September 21, 2022
Abstract
We examine whether the potential for costly sabotage is a deterrent to firms’ use of relative performance evaluation (“RPE”) in CEO pay plans. We exploit illegal cartel membership as a source of variation in the potential for costly sabotage and document that firms are more likely to use RPE if they are currently cartel members. Moreover, firms frequently drop RPE from their CEOs’ pay plans immediately after their cartels are detected, dissolved and punished. We further provide suggestive evidence that the potential for costly sabotage explains these patterns; cartel membership severs the empirical association between RPE and competitive aggression.
Keywords: Compensation, Collusion, Cartels, Managerial Incentives, Relative Performance Evaluation, Sabotage
JEL Classification: D21, D22, D43, G30, G35
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation