The old boy network: The impact of professional networks on remuneration in top executive jobs

Arbeitspapier

We investigate the impact of social networks on earnings using a dataset of over 20,000 senior executives of European and US firms. The size of an individual's network of influential former colleagues has a large positive association with current remuneration. An individual at the 75th percentile in the distribution of connections could expect to have a salary nearly 20 per cent higher than an otherwise identical individual at the median. We use a placebo technique to show that our estimates reflect the causal impact of connections and not merely unobserved individual characteristics. Networks are more weakly associated with women's remuneration than with men's. This mainly reflects an interaction between unobserved individual characteristics and firm recruitment policies. The kinds of firm that best identify and advance talented women are less likely to give them access to influential networks than are firms that do the same for the most talented men.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: SAFE Working Paper ; No. 123

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Sociology of Economics ; Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials ; Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
• Thema: professional networks ; gender wage gap ; executive compensation ; placebo technique

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Lalanne, Marie ; Seabright, Paul
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Goethe University Frankfurt, SAFE - Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe
• (wo): Frankfurt a. M.
• (wann): 2016

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: doi:10.2139/ssrn.2717988
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/129059
• URN: urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-393006
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:42 MEZ