CEO Emotional Intelligence level and Compensation: Evidence From Tunisia

University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia This article focuses on the impact of emotions on Tunisian chief executive officer (CEO) compensation. It examines specifically the role of executives’ emotional intelligence (EI) level and their emotional biases, namely optimism in explaining compensation plans. An empirical study was conducted in this respect, by using a questionnaire as a method of data collection, on a sample of 100 Tunisian companies’ leaders. This research paper translates an original approach, since it highlights the behavioral aspects role in explaining the CEO’s compensation policy level. To the best of the knowledge, this represents the first study in the Tunisian context that explored this area of research. Actually, the results show that Tunisian leaders may be subject to certain emotions thereby impacting their compensation characteristics. Indeed, they opt at first to contribute to the organizational performance by establishing a mutual trust within the organizational structure in order to achieve the objectives already set up. However, this could be done at the expense of their compensation plans.