This study draws on attribution theory and literature from compensation and strategy to investigate executives’ perceptions about their influence over the firm’s stock price. We define stock price expectancy as the extent to which executives feel that they can influence the firm’s stock price. Results from of a survey of 435 U.S. executives suggest that stock price expectancy is related to both attributional and contextual antecedents. Based on these findings we discuss implications for the extension of expectancy theory and the design and administration of incentive systems
