Public versus private business school deans’ salary levels and structure in the United States

ABSTRACT

Despite increased scrutiny of administrators’ salaries in higher education, little is known about the determinants of executive-level compensation at universities. This study examines the individual and institutional determinants of compensation of business school deans, in the United States, with a focus on differentials between private and public university deans, in the level of remuneration and the structure of compensation. Specifically, using a Oaxaca-decomposition, I estimate that despite managing smaller, less research intensive business schools, private university business school deans earn approximately 15% more than comparable public university deans, and that they are compensated more for managing finances than for managing students.

KEYWORDS:

• Business school deans’ salaries
• educational finance
• salary differentials
• higher education remuneration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Female versus male was determined based on pronouns used by either the dean and/or the university in publicly released communications such as annual letters from the business school dean or press releases announcing hiring.