The Determinants of Executive Compensation in Japan and the UK: Agency Hypothesis or Joint Determination Hypothesis?

Abstract

Although there are many studies on executive compensation, many of these studies often take for granted the 'Anglo-American style of corporate governance'. This paper seeks to contrast the effect of corporate governance on the directors' incentive, by comparing the UK and Japan. There is a positive and significant relationship between directors' pay and employees' average wage in Japan, suggesting that both directors and employees have a similar incentive system while no such relationship is observed in the UK. These results suggest that the difference in corporate governance affects the director's salary and their incentives.Executive Compensation, Corporate Governance, Company performance, Japan, UK