Research on family firms' employment practices remains equivocal with findings from studies framed on the basis of stewardship and socioemotional wealth (SEW) preservation perspectives suggesting that family firms are better employers than nonfamily peers, and findings from studies grounded on agency theory suggesting the opposite. Arguing that these two perspectives are not mutually exclusive, we theorize that, consistent with notions of compensating differentials, pay practices in family firms offer a compensatory balancing of lower base pay with pay forms and benefits signaling the kind of caring, support and long-term commitment typical of such firms. Accordingly, while, consistent with an agentic perspective, pay rates in nonfamily firms may be higher than in family firms, consistent with the stewardship/SEW perspective, we argue that pay and benefits may be structured to offer greater long-term reward security in family firms. Focusing on reward practices among employees in a single job in a single industry (i.e., truck drivers), we find that where there are differences, they generally favor family firms, with a significantly higher proportion of family firms paying on the basis of fixed salary (as opposed to more variable hourly/mile-based rates), and with those firms paying hourly offering typical and “floor” rates higher than those offered by nonfamily firms. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

中文翻译：

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吝啬的校长或仁慈的管家：家庭与非家庭货运公司的奖励做法

对家族企业雇佣实践的研究与基于管理和社会情感财富 (SEW) 保存观点的研究结果仍然模棱两可，表明家族企业是比非家族同行更好的雇主，而基于代理理论的研究结果则相反。认为这两种观点并不相互排斥，我们的理论是，与补偿差异的概念一致，家族企业的薪酬实践提供了较低基薪与薪酬形式和福利之间的补偿性平衡，表明关心、支持和长期这类公司的典型承诺。因此，虽然与代理观点一致，非家族企业的薪酬率可能高于家族企业，但与管理/SEW 观点一致，我们认为，薪酬和福利的结构可以为家族企业提供更大的长期奖励保障。关注单一行业单一工作的员工（即卡车司机）的奖励做法，我们发现在存在差异的地方，他们普遍偏爱家族企业，其中以固定工资支付的家族企业比例明显更高（相对于更可变的每小时/英里费率），并且那些按小时付费的公司提供的典型和“底价”费率高于非家族企业提供的费率。讨论了对理论和实践的影响。他们通常偏爱家族企业，基于固定工资支付的家族企业比例显着更高（而不是更可变的每小时/英里费率），并且那些按小时支付的公司提供的典型和“底薪”高于那些由非家族企业提供的。讨论了对理论和实践的影响。他们通常偏爱家族企业，基于固定工资支付的家族企业比例显着更高（而不是更可变的每小时/英里费率），并且那些按小时支付的公司提供的典型和“底薪”高于那些由非家族企业提供的。讨论了对理论和实践的影响。