Compensation Strategies That Support Commercial Banks’ Effective Risk Management Practices

• Main Author: Kagumya, Elias
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: ScholarWorks 2020
• Subjects: Commercial banks; Compensation; Remuneration; Risk management; Risk-taking; Uganda; Finance and Financial Management
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/7675; https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8947&context=dissertations

Compensation structures with relatively high levels of contingent pay encouraged managers to engage in excessive risk-taking behavior at financial institutions, which contributed to the global financial crisis of 2008. The purpose of this study, guided by the theory of the firm, was to explore compensation strategies that some executives in Uganda used to support effective risk-management practices. This multiple case study was an in-depth inquiry into compensation strategies that encouraged prudent risk-taking behavior. The target population comprised 5 risk-management executives from 5 separate commercial banks who had successfully implemented compensation strategies that supported risk management practices. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and a review of company documents. Data were analyzed using Yin’s approach and involved data coding, sorting, filtering, identifying relationships, confirming and linking emerging themes to the research question. Methodological triangulation and member checking were applied to ensure the credibility, validity, accuracy, and transferability of the results. Four themes emerged from data analysis: compensation challenges, financial and nonfinancial compensation, the effectiveness of compensation, and effective implementation of compensation strategies. The findings from the study may contribute to positive social change by driving the adoption of compensation strategies that motivate leaders to focus on the long-term objectives of the firm, including investing in socially responsive projects that improve the welfare of the communities in which the banks operate.