Firms’ rhetorical nationalism and within-firm pay gap: evidence from China
Abstract
We use the data from Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2021 to test the relationship between nationalism and within-firm pay gap. We find that the firms' rhetorical nationalism significantly reduces the within-firm pay gap. The effects are stronger among the larger firms, the firms in the more competitive industry, the firms with CPC departments and more analysts. The plausible channels show that the nationalism encourages the firms innovation and increases the demand for high-tech employees, makes the firms pay more attention to the fairness and the employees right, as well as constrains the executives power.
Fields of Study & Subjects
International Business and FDI
Corporate Finance and Governance
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Applied Economics
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Pages
- 1–18
- Publication date
- 28 April 2026
- Language
- EN