Abstract

This paper utilises the perspective of listed companies to explore the influence of decision-making power allocation on labour income share and analyses the possible mechanisms. Utilising 16,650 firm-year observations from both the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges between 2008 and 2021, the results show that decentralised decision-making power can significantly improve the labour income share of enterprises. This result is more obvious in enterprises with non-state-owned property rights and low total factor productivity. Furthermore, decentralising enterprise decision-making power reduces rent dissipation within the company, improves enterprise investment enthusiasm, increases investment in research and development, and promotes upgrading the labour force.