We examine the impact of optimistic directors that are members of boards and compensation committees on CEOs compensation. We find that optimistic boards and compensation committees reward CEOs with a higher proportion of equity-based compensation. We utilize two natural experiments,...

This study examines how the board of directors’ pay structure may influence accounting- and market-based measures of firm performance, and how firm complexity in pay structure is associated with firm performance. We integrate the insights of the Board Capital View and Contingency theory to...