EXECUTIVE REWARD SYSTEMS: A CROSS-NATIONAL COMPARISON*

This article examines executive compensation in the United States, France, and the Netherlands. A brief review of executive compensation literature is conducted to expose its implicit value systems. Next, a qualitative study examines the interpretive schemas that executives express about the pay-performance relationship; US-developed expectancy theory and agency theory serve as a benchmark. the results indicate that US executives understand compensation in different terms from those employed by their European counterparts.