scholarly journals Board demographic diversity and human rights reporting in Western Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Castelo Branco ◽  
Maria Teresa Bianchi ◽  
Manuel Castelo Branco
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Boards Of Directors ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Resource Dependence Theory ◽  
Demographic Diversity ◽  
Board Diversity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ordinal Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
The Board Of Directors

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between board demographic diversity and human rights reporting for a sample of large Western European companies. Design/methodology/approach Grounded on resource dependence theory, the authors hypothesize that greater gender, age and nationality diversities will translate into enhanced levels of human rights reporting. The authors use ordinal logistic regression analysis to analyze the association between these types of board diversity and such reporting. Findings The findings suggest that the companies in the sample attribute little importance to the reporting of information pertaining to the issue of human rights. They also suggest that only the diversity of nations represented in the board of directors is significant in explaining this type of reporting. Research limitations/implications The sample includes only large companies from Western Europe and the analysis covers only one year. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study provides the first empirical analysis of factors influencing human rights reporting conducted on a multiple-country setting. It is also the first investigating the association between boards of directors’ demographic diversity and such reporting.

What does board capital really bring to the table?

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 134-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Whitney Douglas Fernandez ◽  
Yannick Thams ◽  
Mark Lehrer
Keyword(s):  
Boards Of Directors ◽  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Resource Dependence Theory ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Board Capital

Purpose Although resource dependence theory (RDT) has substantially deepened the understanding of the function and role of boards, no systematic review of this body of work has yet been undertaken. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize prior research on the strategically relevant resources provided by board members to their organization in the light of RDT and indicate avenues for future research. Design/methodology/approach The review covers 79 research articles from 1978 to 2016 dealing with the resource provision of boards of directors. Findings Board capital research most often assumes a positive, linear relationship between board capital, resource provision and ultimately firm-level performance outcomes. This tendency tends to exclude from view the possibility of important trade-offs relevant to both theory and practice. Future research will need to incorporate more complex models that take into consideration nonlinear and curvilinear effects. The authors outline opportunities to advance board research by refining the methodological techniques employed. Originality/value By recommending investigation of the important trade-offs inherent in board composition, the authors seek to inspire future research that offers practical guidance for improving the effectiveness of corporate boards.

Effects of boards of directors' external ties on firms' IT success

Kybernetes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Wang ◽  
Xingteng Li
Keyword(s):  
Boards Of Directors ◽  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Environmental Uncertainty ◽  
Resource Dependence Theory ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Association ◽  
It Success

PurposeGiven the huge investment and complexity of information technology, it is imperative that boards of directors fully play their important role in promoting firms' IT success. This study aims to investigate the effects of boards of directors' external ties on firms' IT success from the perspective of resource dependence theory.Design/methodology/approachAccording to the method of the matched sample comparison group, a total of 576 samples of listed enterprises in three periods were obtained.FindingsResults show that both boards' political ties and boards' business ties have a positive impact on firms' IT success. Environmental uncertainty and the institutional environment play different roles in the relationships between two types of external ties and firms' IT success. Specifically, the results show that the institutional environment can regulate the influence of the political association of directors on firms' IT success negatively. In addition, environmental uncertainty regulates the influence of directors' political association on firms' IT success negatively, as well as the influence of directors' commercial association with firms' IT success.Research limitations/implicationsThe external ties were measured by cross-sectional data. And the current study focused on two fundamental types of external ties.Originality/valueBoards' external ties are studied from both political and business perspectives, and the effects of these two types of external ties on firms' IT success are compared. Additionally, the moderating effects of the institutional environment (macro level) and environmental uncertainty (micro level) in these relationships are investigated.

Exploring processes in Spanish, German and UK boards: a measurement framework of board know-how, board diversity and directors’ interactions interrelation

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paloma Bilbao-Calabuig ◽  
M. Eugenia Fabra ◽  
Isabell Osadnik
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Boards Of Directors ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Demographic Diversity ◽  
Board Diversity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Know How ◽  
Measurement Framework ◽  
Board Processes

Purpose Several empirical attempts have investigated boardroom processes and their impact on the governing team decision-making. Such attempts, however, have derived in inchoate results opening new methodological debates and leaving the underlying patterns of board processes obscure. This paper aims to shed light on these patterns by empirically examining the interrelation among the three central constructs involved in board decision-making: know-how, demographic diversity and directors’ social interactions. Design/methodology/approach A framework of interrelation among know-how, demographic diversity and social interactions was conceptually built and empirically validated with partial least squares structural equation modelling applied to archival data from a sample of 87 boards of directors of Spanish, German and UK listed companies. Findings Results unmask the intricacies of behavioural processes involved in know-how-demography relation: demographic diversity contribution to know-how is totally and positively mediated by directors’ social interactions. This reveals the power of directors’ socialization frequency in determining processes and predicting know-how. Practical implications The paper offers a new pathway to manage board know-how and to make board diversity effective. It also opens a door to an innovative empirical methodology to make board processes emerge, one that overcomes methodological limitations of previous efforts. Originality/value This is so far the only study that examines and measures holistically the structural interrelation among the three central constructs determining board decisions and performance: know-how, diversity and social interactions.

Board involvement in corporate sustainability reporting: evidence from Sri Lanka

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 1042-1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nayana Chandani Swarnapali Rathnayaka Mudiyanselage
Keyword(s):  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Resource Dependence Theory ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sustainability Disclosure ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
Asian Context

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role played by the board of directors in corporate sustainability (CS) disclosure within the Asian context in which sustainability reporting (SR) is an emerging phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach Data are collected from a sample of 100 listed Sri Lankan companies over a period of four years (2012-2016), representing practically all the business sectors. This study draws on both agency and resource dependence theories, while binary logistic regression is performed for the data analysis. Findings The results point out that firms that follow a sustainability disclosure policy have larger boards, a higher proportion of independent directors and more female directors. Contrary to certain common assumptions, firms that practice sustainability disclosure are not influenced by dual leadership, board ethnicity and board ownership. This study helps firms to understand whether their boards can influence the sustainability disclosure choice or not and further, to validate the appropriateness of the agency theory and the resource dependence theory for examining issues of this nature. Originality/value This study contributes significantly to the extant literature on this subject by broadening the geographical coverage, which has generally been limited to the West in corporate disclosure studies.

scholarly journals CEO duality and firm performance: the moderating roles of CEO informal power and board involvements

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 1453-1474
Author(s):  
Chaminda Wijethilake ◽  
Athula Ekanayake
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Board Of Directors ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Listed Companies ◽  
Resource Dependence Theory ◽  
Ceo Duality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Board Of Directors

Purpose This study aims to draw on the resource dependence theory to synthesize the conflicting arguments as well as commonalities of the agency and stewardship perspectives on the relationship between CEO duality and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach Multiple regression analysis is used to analyze the data collected from a sample of 212 large-scale publicly listed companies representing 20 sectors in the Colombo Stock Exchange in Sri Lanka. Findings The research results based on all of 212 publicly listed companies in Sri Lanka show, in support of the agency theory, that CEO duality exerts a negative effect on firm performance when the CEO is equipped with additional informal power. Conversely, CEO duality exhibits a positive effect on firm performance when board involvements are high, a finding that supports the commonalities of the agency and stewardship theoretical perspectives. Practical implications By examining the governance practices and concepts in an Asian developing economy, this study provides insight into the power dynamics between the CEO and the board of directors in managerial contexts that are largely different from those in western countries. Originality/value This study expands the theoretical underpinning of corporate governance research by identifying the performance implications of CEO duality within the broad context of the resource provision of the board of directors and the informal power of CEOs.

Board capital and exploration: from a resource provisional perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (9) ◽  
pp. 2156-2174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nami Kim ◽  
Eonsoo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Resource Dependence Theory ◽  
Outside Directors ◽  
Board Diversity ◽  
Role Taking ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Board Capital ◽  
Role Based

Purpose – Drawing upon the resource dependence theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine how the board capital diversity influences the explorative innovation of firms, attempting to resolve the inconsistent empirical findings of the effect of outside directors on firm’s R & D strategy. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of Korean manufacturing firms which consider R & D capability to be one of their core competencies, the study uses negative binomial model to test the influence of board capital diversity on explorative innovation. Findings – Results support the value of moderate level of board diversity hypothesis by demonstrating that board capital diversity shows an inverted U-shaped relationship with explorative innovation. The results also suggest that CEO ownership positively moderates the relationship between board capital diversity and firms’ innovative performance. Originality/value – Mainstream research has focussed on the directors’ monitoring role based on agency theory, overlooking the more positive resource provision role. Taking on the concepts of board capital and exploration, the study introduces the notion that outside directors should be selected with a view as vehicles for bringing in valuable expertise and social linkages for the firm’s explorative innovation.

Roles of academic directors on US Fortune 500 boards

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig A. Peterson ◽  
James Philpot
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Outside Directors ◽  
Demographic Diversity ◽  
Board Diversity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
The Us

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the prevalence of directors of US Fortune 500 firms who come from an academic background, and possible unique reasons for their appointment.Design/methodology/approachBased on extant theory of the resource‐dependence roles of non‐management directors, this study proposes and tests three hypotheses concerning distinctive reasons firms may appoint an academic to their boards. Academic directors may serve unique roles in increasing board demographic diversity, increasing firm intellectual capital, and providing links to local geographic constituents. Using year 2002 data from the US Fortune 500 firms, this study presents descriptive statistics and uses t‐tests and χ2 tests to examine hypotheses.FindingsFirms having academics on their boards have greater board demographic diversity than firms without an academic director. Firms with academic directors have the same average emphasis on knowledge‐based earnings as other firms. Academics associated with US top‐ranked universities tend to be more likely to hold board seats. Firms tend to select academic directors from the geographic regions where the firm is headquartered and have a slight tendency to use them on public affairs committees.Research limitations/implicationsThis study's findings highlight a unique non‐monitoring advantage of academic directors for firms seeking increased board diversity, and potential community/stakeholder liaisons.Practical implicationsFirms wishing to increase board diversity or improve relationships with other stakeholder groups may find academic directors useful to such efforts. Academic directors appear to be just as capable as other outside directors in developing firm intellectual capital.Originality/valueThis paper extends the present literature in resource dependence by examining academic directors, a new director subset. The paper is also unique in that it uses data collected from proxy statements, rather than survey data.

The effect of supplier globalization on firm innovation: a resource dependence theory perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yibo Wang ◽  
Bai Liu
Keyword(s):  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Resource Dependence Theory ◽  
Institutional Distance ◽  
Foreign Firms ◽  
Firm Innovation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Dependence Theory

PurposeEither buying or making is predicted by the existing literature for firms to reduce dependence. However, firms in the rapid globalization are found to adopt a pattern of buying and making. Specially, they critically rely on foreign firms for needed materials and goods, and invest in innovation against the uncertainty of potential supply disruptions simultaneously. Therefore, this paper seeks to investigate how the depth and width of supplier globalization shape firm innovation together. Moreover, the moderating effects of institutional distance and market competition are also examined in the paper.Design/methodology/approachGrounded on the resource dependence theory, this paper develops a theoretical framework and tests the proposed hypotheses by Poisson model using secondary data from 502 Chinese listed firms with foreign suppliers.FindingsThe depth of supplier globalization has a positive impact on firm innovation, while the width of supplier globalization weakens firm innovation. The depth and width of supplier globalization further interact negatively to influence firm innovation. Moreover, this relationship is enhanced when firms establish relationships with foreign firms with greater institutional distance and is weakened when firms face fiercer product competition.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to the literature by evidencing that the existence of foreign suppliers results in firms' enhancement of innovation to secure their operations and showing that diversifying the country origins of foreign suppliers is an effective means to reduce firms' uncertainty about supply disruption. We also advance the understanding regarding the contextual factors in which firms are more likely or less likely to manage the uncertainty about supplier globalization.

Hiring decisions on certified manpower

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 514-535
Author(s):  
Huei-Wen Pao ◽  
Cheng-Yu Lee ◽  
Pi-Hui Chung ◽  
Hsueh-Liang Wu
Keyword(s):  
Service Sector ◽  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Resource Dependence Theory ◽  
Resource Scarcity ◽  
Institutional Innovation ◽  
Social Contagion ◽  
Service Firms ◽  
Hiring Decisions ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The industry-wide adoption of a novel practice is often considered to be an institutional change. Although research on institutionalization has been accumulating, how and why embedded actors in the field become motivated to embrace change that remains sidelined. Viewing the introduction of a new human resource management practice, the recruitment of non-compulsory certified manpower, which is still in its infancy in the service sector of Taiwan, as a new institution, the purpose of this paper is to identify the distinct motives behind firms’ hiring decisions, and examine the extent to which such hiring decisions are contingent on institutional conditions and firm attributes. Design/methodology/approach The data used to test the hypotheses were drawn from a survey on service firms in Taiwan in the second half of 2011. Hypotheses were examined through moderated hierarchical regression analyses in a sample of 254 Taiwanese service firms across major sectors. Findings Integrating the resource dependency and social contagion views, the study contends that resource scarcity drives, or legitimacy enables, service firms to deviate from traditional hiring patterns and instead adopt new preferences toward certified manpower. The study not only shows that social factors should be incorporated into the diffusion of a new HR recruitment practice in the service sector, which is traditionally based upon economic considerations, but also sheds light on the context-dependent nature of the process of institutional innovation. Originality/value This study is an attempt not only to test a dual-theoretical model on the extent to which a service firm’s new hiring pattern is influenced by two distinct types of motivation, but also to evidence how an institutional innovation, in terms of the regime of service manpower certification, takes root and spreads in the field. The managerially discretional account of the resource dependence theory needs to be reconciled with social contagion theory, which highlights the influence of collective actions and so provides a better understanding of the diffusion of new HR recruitment practices in the service industry.

scholarly journals Supply chain strategies in an era of natural resource scarcity

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 784-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitra Kalaitzi ◽  
Aristides Matopoulos ◽  
Michael Bourlakis ◽  
Wendy Tate
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Resource Dependence ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Resource Dependence Theory ◽  
Resource Scarcity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Natural Resource Scarcity

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of natural resource scarcity (NRS) for companies’ supply chain strategies. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the resource dependence theory (RDT), a conceptual model is developed and validated through the means of exploratory research. The empirical work includes the assessment of qualitative data collected via 22 interviews representing six large multinational companies from the manufacturing sector. Findings When the resources are scarce and vitally important, companies use buffering strategies. Buffering and bridging strategies are preferred when there are a few alternative suppliers for the specific resource and when there is limited access to scarce natural resources. Research limitations/implications The research focuses on large multinational manufacturing companies so results may not be generalised to other sectors and to small- and medium-sized firms. Future research needs to examine the implications of NRS for organisational performance. Practical implications This research provides direction to manufacturing companies for adopting the best supply chain strategy to cope with NRS. Originality/value This paper adds to the body of knowledge by providing new data and empirical insights into the issue of NRS in supply chains. The RDT has not been previously employed in this context. Past studies are mainly conceptual and, thus, the value of this paper comes from using a qualitative approach on gaining in-depth insights into supply chain-related NRS strategies and its antecedents.

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