Italian Managers

Italian Managers

The aim of this survey is to collect information on the characteristics of Italian managers, the firms they work for and obtain a rich description of the incentives managers face, both explicitly (e.g. performance bonuses) and implicitly (e.g. importance of personal relationships for career progress).

In particular, we collected information on:

(1) Managers’ demographics, education, family background and risk aversion

(2) Firms’ ownership structure and multinational status

(3) Hiring and firing practices

(4) Career progression path within the firm: appraisals and promotion tracks

(5) The structure of pay schemes

Our sample of managers is selected from the member directory of Manageritalia, a professional association of managers operating in the trade and services sectors. Manageritalia members account for 96% of all managers in the trade and service sectors. These, in turn, make up for 20% of all Italian managers.

The final dataset contains information on 603 individuals (general directors, finance directors and sales directors, equally split across the three operational areas). The selection criteria followed the purpose of the study “Italian Managers: Fidelity or Performance?” by Bandiera, Guiso, Pratt and Sadun, which was presented at the X Fondazione Rodolfo DeBenedetti Conference , “The Ruling Class”, held in Gaeta in May 2008. For further information on the sample design, please read the attached user’s guide.

The administration of the survey was outsourced to Erminero & Co., an established survey firm located in Milan. The survey was carried out in October 2007. All sampled managers were contacted by phone to schedule a subsequent phone interview, administered by a team of 35 analysts trained by Erminero & Co. The response rate was 33%, with an average duration of 21 minutes per interview.

Detailed information are provided in the user guide attached below.