Top Management Team Pay Dispersion and Corporate Social Action: Empirical Evidence from US Banks

Corporate social action (CSA) refers to “behaviors and practices that extend beyond immediate profit maximization goals and are intended to increase social benefits or mitigate social problems for constituencies external to the firm” (Marquis et al., 2007). Stakeholders increasingly expect companies to be actively engaged in CSA, and to be genuinely motivated to do so by social and environmental concerns beyond the legal, regulatory and economic requirements. Thus, a substantial number of previous studies have examined what factors lead organizations to get involved more in socially responsible actions (Aguilera et al., 2007).