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Journal of Accounting and Economics Vol. 37 No. 1 2004

The effect of stock option repricing on employee turnover

Mary Ellen Carter1; Luann J. Lynch2

1 University of Pennsylvania · 2 University of Virginia

Abstract

We examine whether repricing underwater stock options reduces executive and overall employee turnover using a sample of firms that reprice stock options in 1998 and a sample of firms with underwater stock options that choose not to reprice. We find little evidence that repricing affects executive turnover. However, using forfeited stock options to proxy for overall employee turnover, we find that 1999 employee turnover is negatively related to the 1998 repricing, suggesting that repricing helps prevent turnover due to underwater options. We find no evidence that the relation between turnover and repricing differs between high technology and nonhigh technology firms.

DOI
10.1016/j.jacceco.2003.06.002
Volume
37
Issue
1
Pages
91-112
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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