Navigating competition: how pay disparities and moral intensity shape financial managers' behaviors and stress

Purpose This study aims to explore how competitive promotion systems, grounded in tournament theory, influence financial managers' behaviors, with job stress as a mediator and moral intensity as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach An online survey of 120 financial managers in Tehran's manufacturing sector employed validated psychometric scales and structural equation modeling for analysis. Findings Perceived pay disparities and competitive environments increase self-interested behavior and job stress while reducing decision quality and cooperative behavior. Job stress partially mediates these effects. Unexpectedly, high moral intensity amplifies negative effects on decision quality and cooperation, not self-interested behavior, due to ethical stress and cognitive overload, challenging existing ethical models. Practical implications Transparent compensation, balanced reward systems, stress management and ethical training mitigate inequities, enhance collaboration and improve well-being, yielding economic benefits (productivity and stability) and societal benefits (ethical workplaces). Originality/value This study pioneers applying tournament theory to financial managers, integrating equity, social comparison and stress-coping perspectives. It reveals moral intensity's context-dependent role, refining incentive designs for ethical performance management.