The study looked at why some companies choose to give their directors extra incentives. They compared 122 companies that did this to similar ones that didn't. They found that companies with more outside directors and a certain type of cash payment for directors were more likely to adopt these plans. After adopting the plans, the outside directors of these companies had more shares and options, less cash, and the company had fewer inside owners and board members. This suggests that companies use these plans to improve how they are monitored by the board and make their director pay more similar to other companies.