급변하는 경영환경 속에서 경쟁력을 창출하고 지속시키고자 현재 대다수의 기업체는 기존에 운영되어 온 보상 제도에 변화를 도입하여 효율적으로 운용하는 방안을 모색하고 있다. 선행 연구는 보상 제도가 회사의 성과에 유의미한 영향을 미친다고 검증되지만 회사가 보상 제도를 어떠한 방식으로 설계하고 실행하여야 경영성과의 향상으로 이어질 수 있는지 조사한 연구는 드문 실정이다. 본 연구는 보상 제도가 인적자원 속성 - 조직시민행동과 적응력 -을 변화시켜야만 기업 경쟁력이 향상된다는 모델에 근거하여 인적자원이 보상 제도가 회사의 경영성과에 영향을 미치는 데 있어서 매개하는지 검증하였다. 미국의 106개 기업의 인사 관리자를 대상으로 조사한 결과 장기인센티브제와 연봉제는 기업의 경영성과를 향상시키는 데 있어 구성원의 조직시민행동이 부분적인 매개 효과를 보이고 있다. 이 연구의 결과를 요약하면 성과에 초점을 맞춘 보상 제도를 효율적으로 설계하고 실시하려면 인적자원의 역할에 초점을 맞추어야 한다는 것을 시사하고 있다.
Earlier studies have found that a firm’s compensation system has a large potential to contribution to a firm’s competitiveness. Moreover, recently, the design, delivery, and the use of a compensation system have undergone dramatic changes. However, relative to its importance and recent changes, compensation scholars and practitioners still raise questions about how companies make and develop compensation programs that support a firm’s success. The results of previous studies on the effectiveness of specific compensation programs have been mixed. For example, the Gerhart and Milkovich study (1990) and the Rajagopalan (1998) study suggested that a high proportion of long-term incentives in an executive pay program yielded significant financial returns. However, workers were not motivated to participate in this long-term incentive program because they did not perceive a close link between their payout and a firm’s long-term performance. Murray and Gerhart study (1998) showed that plants with skill-based pay programs improved productivity and lowered production costs while the plants incurred substantial expenditures for the firms’ administrative procedures and training programs. Compensation scholars and business practitioners raised criticisms regarding effect of merit pay that allow workers to attach to individual outputs rather than contributing to teamwork. A review of previous literatures above shows that questions about the effectiveness of compensation programs still remain. The framework of this study posits that changes in human capital characteristics must affect the impact of compensation programs on an organization’s performance. Organizations typically use their compensation programs to direct, motivate, change, and manage behaviors and attributes of workers. As a valuable, unique, and non-imitable resource, human resource can be a source of competitive advantage. Therefore, rather than testing the direct effect of a compensation program, our present study seeks to examine the importance of human resource characteristics that can serve as mediators between a compensation program and an organization’s performance. The current study hypothesizes that the relationship between long-term incentives, skill-based pay, and merit pay programs and a firm’s performance is mediated by changes in adaptability and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). By testing human resource characteristics, the present study intends to extend the performance implications on how compensation programs are designed, established, and executed in ways to contribute to a firm’s competitive advantage. To test hypotheses, this study used survey to measure independent and mediating variables such as compensation programs and human resource characteristics. Also, the current study operationalizes firm performance as objective financial data, Tobin’s Q and ROA that are expected to deal with common method bias, a major methodological issue in survey design. Surveys were mailed twice to 1,152 firms and got responses from 106 firms, representing a response rate of 9.3% which was below expectations. Adopting the Baron and Kenney model (1986), we used hierarchical multiple regression analysis as a statistical method to test hypotheses. Whereas employee adaptability failed to mediate the effect of compensation programs on a firm’s performance, employee OCB could be a partial mediator between a long-term incentive program and a firm's Tobin's Q. Contrary to hypotheses, skill-based pay negatively affected a firm’s Tobin's Q. Unexpectedly, the effect of merit pay on a firm’s performance (Tobin's Q ＆ ROA) was partially intervened by employee OCB. There are some implications of the current study. A change in human resource characteristics such as OCB is a key to the design and execution of compensation programs. Thus, the results of this study suggest that OCB allows workers to exert behavioral activities that mitigate disadvantages of long-term incentives and merit pay programs. Workers with a high level of OCB are more likely to demonstrate active participation in strategic choices and explore alternative frameworks and work procedures. Also, they are willing to share expertise and resources, and collaborate with other members to make a commitment to a company’s achievement objectives. Thus, OCB can be an important factor in the designs, changes, and implementations of compensation programs. The negative effect of skill-based pay indicates that skill-based payment increases wages of workers without any improvements in the skill and competency levels of workers. It is necessary to design structures and programs for skill-based pay that allow workers to acquire and learn rapidly changing skills and competencies that improve a firm's competitiveness. This study has several limitations. The research design of the current study, cross-sectional sample may not support the causality relationship. Another longitudinal design is need to explore the causality relationship. Another limitation is that the response rate is small. While a low response rate becomes the norm in the field, it is desirable to have a higher response rate. Moreover, the statistical analyses on Tobin's Q and ROA are different: while long-term incentive and skill-based pay programs significantly affect Tobin's Q, the effect of long-term incentive and skill-based pay programs on a firm's ROA is not significant. Because Tobin's Q reflects a firm's market value, skill-based pay and long-term incentive programs that are significantly related to operational expense and financial market value can affect a firm's Tobin's Q: unless the characteristics of compensation program are consistent with company performance characteristics, the effect of compensation program on a firm's performance may not be significant. When the company designs and implements compensation program, the company must verify the features of compensation programs align with company's performance objectives. In summary, the present study is one of a few studies that identifies process through which compensation programs contribute to firms’ competitiveness. The empirical study presents that changes in human capital characteristics such as OCB are essential to the effect of a compensation program on a firm’s performance. Therefore, this study highlights the necessity of changes in human resource characteristics in terms of compensation programs and practices.
