This study selects data from China's A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges between 2010 and 2023 to examine the impact of internal executive pay disparities on high-quality enterprise development. The findings indicate that widening internal executive compensation gaps significantly promote high-quality development, with enhanced corporate competitiveness serving as a key mechanism. However, the gap between executives and employees, as well as customer concentration, exerts a certain negative moderating effect. Moreover, the promoting effect of internal executive pay gaps on high-quality corporate development is more pronounced in firms with lower marketization levels, without CEO-chairman duality, and facing intense product market competition. Going forward, enterprises could adopt differentiated compensation systems, reasonably widen internal executive pay gaps, balance salary allocations between management and employees, and optimize their customer structure to reduce reliance risks, thereby better advancing high-quality development.