Do Employees Cheer for Private Equity? The Heterogeneous Effects of Buyouts on Job Quality

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gornall, Will; Gredil, Oleg R.; Howell, Sabrina T.; Liu, Xing; Sockin, Jason
• 署名单位: University of British Columbia; Tulane University; New York University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Tsinghua University; IZA Institute Labor Economics; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; Cornell University
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2022.00951
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: private equity; leveraged buyouts; job quality; Corporate culture; implicit contracts

摘要

We show that private equity leveraged buyouts reduce perceived job quality despite not impacting average base pay. This appears to reflect employees bearing more risk. Both job quality and employee incentive pay are more related to firm performance at private equity-owned companies than at public control firms with 1% higher deal rate of return associated with 0.7% more employee incentive pay. Deals with high leverage and employees with worse outside options fuel the declines in job satisfaction after a buyout. Our results highlight how job quality is tied to job security and how ownership affects employees through mechanisms beyond base pay.