Universität zu Köln

Kampkötter, Patrick (2011). Compensation and Performance - Empirical Studies on Wages, Bonus Payments, and Intra-Firm Trainings. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

This thesis analyzes the relationship between compensation and performance. The four chapters empirically investigate the determinants and performance effects of compensation schemes. These topics include the effects of a higher differentiation in bonus payments on individual performance, the determinants of wage premia for newly hired employees, the long-term effects of training participation, and the effect of the recent financial crisis on the determinants of compensation schemes. All chapters have two things in common: First, they are all related to compensation policies, i.e. they all focus either on base salaries or short-term bonus payments or a combination of both. And second, they are based on two large-scaled data sets, because in the end the answers to the questions raised above are empirical ones. We focus on non-executive employees, i.e. lower- and middle-level employees below the top management level. The thesis can be divided into two parts. In chapters 2 to 4, the determinants of compensation schemes in a broader sense are being investigated. Chapter 2 provides an extensive overview on payment schemes in the banking and financial services industry for German-speaking countries, including the impact of the current economic crisis. The third chapter analyzes if newly hired employees receive a wage premium compared to incumbent employees, even if both do the same job. It can be shown that differences in human capital, i.e. the specificity of human capital (general vs. firm-specific), determine whether wage premia are paid to newly hired employees. Chapter 4 investigates the relationship between intra-firm training participation and both fixed salaries and short-term bonus payments. Applying panel data methods to eliminate unobserved heterogeneity, we do not find a long-term effect of training participation on performance measured by monetary indicators. In the second part of the thesis, the performance effects of differentiation in bonus payments on subsequent individual performance are being studied. We indeed find that, on average, a stronger differentiation in a given work unit has a substantial positive effect on individual performance in this unit in the subsequent year. This effect is the larger the higher the hierarchical level. But differentiation has no significant effect or even becomes harmful at the lowest levels.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Translated title:	Title Language Vergütung und Performance - Empirische Studien über Gehälter, Bonuszahlungen und betriebliche Trainingsmaßnahmen German
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Kampkötter, Patrick patrick.kampkoetter@uni-koeln.de UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-33141
Date:	2011
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences > Business Administration > Corporate Development > Professorship for Business Administration and Human Resources Management
Subjects:	Management and auxiliary services
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Personalökonomik , Gehälter , Bonuszahlungen , Anreize , Trainingsmaßnahmen German personnel economics , wages , bonus payments , incentives , intra-firm trainings English
Date of oral exam:	24 January 2011
Referee:	Name Academic Title Sliwka, Dirk Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/3314