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The Role of Affect in Shaping the Behavioral Consequences of CEO Option Incentives

  • Leon Zolotoy
  • , Don O’Sullivan
  • , Geoffrey P. Martin*
  • , Madhu Veeraraghavan
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We advance behavioral agency theory by exploring the influence of mood or “affect” on the behavioral consequences of stock option incentives. Drawing on insights from psychology and behavioral decision theory, we describe how affect influences agent risk behavior. We argue that positive affect amplifies both the extent to which executives reduce strategic risk taking in response to risk bearing and engage in strategic risk taking in response to incentives for further enrichment. Building again on the psychology literature, we describe how CEO accountability attenuates the influence of affect on CEO risk behavior in response to stock option incentives. We test our expectations in a longitudinal data set of CEO stock option incentives, affect, and strategic risk taking by U.S. firms.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2920-2951
Number of pages32
JournalJournal of Management
Volume45
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01-09-2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Finance
  • Strategy and Management

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