Building on a unique panel data set of German Prime Standard companies for the period 2005-2008, this paper investigates the influencing factors of both director compensation levels and structure, i.e. the probability of performance-based compensation. Drawing on agency theory arguments and...

Building on a unique panel data set of German Prime Standard companies for the period 2005-2008, this paper investigates the influencing factors of both director compensation levels and structure, i.e. the probability of performance-based compensation. Drawing on agency theory arguments and...

Since August 2009, German legislation allows for voluntary Say on Pay Votes (SoPV) during Annual General Meetings (AGMs). We examine 1,169 AGMs of all German listed firms with more than 10,000 agenda items over the period 2010-2013 to identify (1) determinants and approval rates of voluntary...

In the last years, non-executive directors are facing increasing duties and (legal) responsibilities. From that perspective, it is quite surprising that the remuneration of non-executive directors has received rather little attention so far. In this study we examine the German experience. We...

Since 2010 the German law allows for non-binding votes on management compensation by shareholders during the annual meeting. In a broad study covering all non-financial German Prime Standard firms we examine determinants affecting (i) the likelihood of a voting and (ii) the result of a vote. We...

Although often criticized for their inefficiency, director networks are observed in many economies of the world. This raises two questions: What is the empirical effect of director networks on firm performance and what are the determinants of director networks? We empirically examine both issues...

We document three current trends in the compensation of non-executive directors in Germany. First, firms increasingly use performance-insensitive variable pay components, like committee and attendance fees. Second, this comes at the expense of performance-oriented variable pay components, which...