The East Asian CEO Pay Discount

Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings includes abstracts of all papers and symposia presented at the annual conference, plus 6-page abridged versions of the “Best Papers” accepted for inclusion in the program (approximately 10%). Papers published in the Proceedings are abridged because presenting papers at their full length could preclude subsequent journal publication. Please contact the author(s) directly for the full papers. The East Asian CEO Pay DiscountSeung-Hwan Jeong, Ann Mooney Murphy and Saehee KangSeung-Hwan JeongU. of Georgia, Ann Mooney MurphyStevens Institute of Technology and Saehee KangFlorida State U.Published Online:24 Jul 2023https://doi.org/10.5465/AMPROC.2023.18287abstractAboutSections ToolsDownload CitationsAdd to favoritesTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail AbstractAsian Americans are often considered the "model minority" because of evidence that they are more educated, have higher starting salaries, and lower unemployment than all other racial groups including Whites. In this research, we build on emerging work showing these advantages may not persist for East Asians. We focus on CEO compensation and find that there is a pay discount for East Asian CEOs - they earn the least compared to White CEO and CEOs from other racial minority groups. We also explore the mechanisms behind this phenomenon and find East Asian CEOs’ tendency to talk less, an indicator of lower agentic qualities that may compromise impressions of them as effective leaders, mediate the East Asian – CEO compensation relationship. Finally, we find that when firms have a more racially diverse board, the East Asian pay discount dissipates, evidence that governance mechanisms can indeed work in promoting pay equity. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 2023, No. 1 Permissions Metrics in the past 12 months History Published online 24 July 2023 Published in print 1 August 2023 InformationCopyright of Academy of Management Journal is the property of Academy of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.KeywordsAOM Annual Meeting Proceedings 2023AOM Boston 2023Strategic Management