How Can Vice‐Chancellor Compensation Be Justified? Evidence From New Zealand

ABSTRACT Vice‐chancellors' salaries have been criticised in the media and examined by scholars. Therefore, we examine whether vice‐chancellors' compensation can be explained by performance, job size/complexity, and/or the incumbent's characteristics/abilities. Our sample consists of all New Zealand universities' vice‐chancellors' pay from 2010 to 2023. We find that university characteristics (higher university rankings, having a medical school, and more students), university governance (larger size of the senior leadership team), and vice‐chancellor characteristics (being female, older, and being a New Zealander) are associated with higher vice‐chancellor compensation. The prior literature has largely ignored the added complexity of a medical school. JEL Classification: M4, M41, M48