Limited research has been conducted on companies’ use of share-based payments in a South African context. Where research has been performed, the focus has been predominantly on shared-based payments as part of executive remuneration packages. This paper extends this research by investigating all uses of share-based payments by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s (JSE) Top 100 companies. A content analysis was used to capture the details of each scheme disclosed by the JSE Top 100 companies. This included at whom the scheme was aimed, the purpose of the scheme, the settlement type, the vesting period and conditions, and whether there had been any modifications or cancellations.

Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Results reflected that 93 of the 100 companies investigated made use of share-based payments. Seventy-four per cent of all instruments were equity-settled. The few cash-settled schemes found were primarily used by the Basic Materials and Financials sectors. The average vesting period for all instruments was approximately 4 years, with Black Economic Empowerment-aimed schemes having the longest vesting period at 10 years. Non-market performance conditions were most prevalent at 87% while only 27% included market conditions.

Overall, the findings are in line with Agency Theory and prior papers. In addition, this paper found a significant number of modifications and cancellations of instruments. This may be because of poor economic conditions, where reduced economic activity and lower share prices result in share-based payments becoming unfavourable to holders.

对南非公司使用股份支付的情况进行了有限的研究。在进行研究的地方，重点主要放在基于共享的支付作为高管薪酬方案的一部分。本文通过调查约翰内斯堡证券交易所 (JSE) 前 100 家公司对股份支付的所有使用情况来扩展这项研究。内容分析用于捕获 JSE 100 强公司披露的每个计划的详细信息。这包括计划的目标对象、计划的目的、结算类型、归属期和条件，以及是否有任何修改或取消。

使用描述性和推论性统计来分析数据。结果显示，被调查的 100 家公司中有 93 家使用了股份支付。所有工具中有 74% 是以权益结算的。发现的少数现金结算计划主要由基础材料和金融部门使用。所有工具的平均归属期约为 4 年，以黑人经济赋权为目标的计划的归属期最长，为 10 年。非市场表现条件最为普遍，占 87%，而只有 27% 包括市场条件。

总的来说，这些发现与代理理论和之前的论文一致。此外，本文还发现了大量的文书修改和取消。这可能是因为经济状况不佳，经济活动减少和股价下跌导致基于股份的支付对持有人不利。