Based on the data of family enterprises in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2008 to 2020, this paper explores the impact of executive background characteristics on executive pay gap. The results show that the older the average age of the top management team, the smaller the executive compensation gap of listed companies; The greater the proportion of female executives and executives with financial background, the greater the executive pay gap in the listed company. After the endogenous problem control of two-stage instrumental variable method, the research conclusion of this paper is still valid. This paper aims to provide new empirical evidence for the salary governance of family enterprises, alleviate the widespread intergenerational inheritance problems and promote the high-quality development of family enterprises.

Linlin Mo, Yalin Chen, Yuxin Long, Na Zhang, Ting Zhuang. Research on the impact of executive background characteristics on executive compensation gap—Empirical evidence from Chinese family businesses. Academic Journal of Business & Management (2023) Vol. 5, Issue 4: 61-69. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJBM.2023.050411.

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