Managers' remuneration and sustainable performance: visualizing the hidden link in the Italian companies

The purpose of this paper is firstly, to investigate the relationship between the remunerations earned by a company’s managers and the company’s performance and secondly, to propose a visualization technique that would allow this link to be more clearly perceived and understood by stakeholders. This paper presents an analysis of both compulsory and voluntary disclosure in a sample of Italian listed companies. The content analysis method is used to identify the information in the reports showing the link between company managers’ remunerations and the company’s performance. It is argued that information on managers’ compensation and a company’s performance is provided in the available disclosure statements, but it is spread over several documents making it difficult for stakeholders to find and understand the link between the two. The paper highlights the need to build visual representations able to shed light on the links between remuneration and performance, giving an example.