垂直薪酬差距与企业创新质量:基于文化情境的分析

Vertical Pay Gap and Corporate Innovation Quality:An Analysis Based on Cultural Context

关于垂直薪酬差距与企业创新质量之间的关系,现有研究结论并不一致,甚至相互矛盾。由于薪酬差距问题具有较为明显的政策含义,相互矛盾的研究结果会降低其应用价值,同时可能给政策制定者带来困惑。本研究从文化情境出发,分析了在儒家传统文化影响下垂直薪酬差距与企业创新质量之间的关系,并利用中国A股上市公司的相关数据对上述关系进行了实证检验。研究发现:垂直薪酬差距与企业创新质量呈显著的倒U型关系,即当垂直薪酬差距较小时,扩大薪酬差距会提升企业创新质量,但当垂直薪酬差距达到一定程度后,进一步扩大薪酬差距则会抑制企业创新,经过一系列稳健性检验后,上述结论依然成立;进一步研究发现,在儒家文化影响较深(或权力距离较小)的区域,企业员工能接受的垂直薪酬差距更小,即倒U型曲线的拐点明显前移。上述研究结论拓展并丰富了薪酬差距对企业创新影响的研究,有助于薪酬决策者设计更加合理的薪酬分配体系,提升企业创新质量。

The existing research conclusions on the relationship between the vertical pay gap and enterprise innovation quality are inconsistent or even contradictory.Since the pay gap issue has obvious policy implications,contradictory research results will reduce their application value and may bring confusion to policy makers.This paper analyzes the relationship between vertical pay gap and enterprise innovation quality under the influence of Confucianism from the perspective of cultural context,and empirically tests the above relationship based on the data of Chinese A-share listed companies.The results show that there is a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between vertical pay gap and enterprise innovation quality.When the vertical pay gap is small,expanding the pay gap will improve enterprise innovation quality.However,once the pay gap reaches a certain threshold,further expansion will inhibit enterprise innovation.After a series of robustness tests,the above conclusion is still valid.Further research revealed that in regions with a stronger influence of Confucian culture(or small power distance),employees in companies were more accepting of lower vertical pay gaps.This means that the inflection point of the inverted U-shaped curve moves significantly forward.The above research findings expand and enrich the study about the influence of pay gap on enterprise innovation,which will help decision-makers design a more reasonable salary distribution system and improve enterprise innovation quality.