韓國職業棒球球員薪資歧視之研究

Abstract

薪資歧視是運動經濟學領域的重要議題，許多實證研究證實職業運動中，球員可能因種族或國籍等原因，在相同的表現績效情況下，受到薪資不公的待遇，在具有薪資歧視的環境下，球員是否能全力表現為球隊帶來貢獻？球隊能否留住優秀人才？而薪資歧視的成因為何？皆是值得探討的議題。本研究旨在探討韓國職棒球員國籍薪資歧視現象及消費者歧視情況，以韓國職棒一軍球員為研究對象，蒐集2001至2010年球季8支球隊的棋盤式資料，共蒐集775名投手及野手的數據 (投手397人、野手378人) ，數據包括：球員薪資、球員績效表現、個人及球隊特性、國籍、年度主場觀眾進場總人數、球隊勝率、主場城市人口數等數據，並使用一般最小平方法迴歸 (Ordinary Least Squares, OLS) 分析所得數據。主要研究結果：一、韓國職棒皆存在外籍投手、野手的國籍薪資反向歧視；二、在薪資高於平均數的樣本中，外籍野手、投手的薪資與韓籍野手、投手薪資皆無顯著差異；三、韓國職棒存在消費者歧視，且球迷偏好觀賞外籍投手出賽的賽事。韓國職棒中自由球員制度、薪資仲裁制度、聯盟制定之薪資上下限制度、球團對球員實力評估誤差、消費者歧視等因素，可能是造成國籍薪資歧視現象存在的主要原因，若外籍球員薪資上限規定解除後，國籍薪資歧視可能更加明顯。因此，韓國球團宜仔細評估球員實力與狀況，避免造成資源投資浪費的情況，並檢視自身之薪資結構，設計更合宜的給薪標準；韓國職棒聯盟則應檢視自由球員、薪資仲裁、薪資限度等制度，才能從制度面提升對球員權利的保障。Wage discrimination is an important issue in Economics of Sport. Many empirical researches had proved that professional sport players who had the same performance might face wage differentials because of their race or nationality. With wage discrimination, would sport players try their best to make contributions to their teams? Would teams have the ability to retain good players? What is the cause of wage discrimination? The issues above are worth a discussion. This study focused on the nationality wage discrimination and consumer discrimination of Korean professional baseball players and took Korean Major League Baseball players as research objects. It collected data such as wage, players’ performance, teams and players’ personal attributes, nationality, annual audience attendance at home match, teams’ winning rate and the population in host cities among eight baseball team players from 2001 to 2010, including 775 pitchers and fielders (397 pitchers& 378 fielders) , and Ordinary Least Squares was used to analyze data. Main research findings were as follows: First, in Korean professional baseball, both foreign fielders and foreign pitchers showed opposite nationality wage discrimination. Second, in the wage samples over the average, both foreign fielders’ wage and foreign pitchers’ wage had no significant difference between Korean fielders’ and pitchers’ wage. Third, consumer discrimination existed in Korean professional baseball. Baseballfans preferred to watch foreign pitchers instead of watching Korean pitchers. The free agent system, salary arbitration system, wage limitation system formulated by the league, evaluation errors of players’ performance by baseball teams and consumer discrimination might be the main reasons of nationality wage discrimination. If the upper limit of foreign players’ wage was removed, nationality wage discrimination might become more obvious. Therefore, Korean baseball teams should evaluate players’ performance carefully in order to avoid wasting resource, and they also need to view the salary structure and set the salary criterion more appropriately. As for Korean Baseball Organization, they ought to protect players’ right through the free agent system, salary arbitration system and wage limitation system.