Politicians on the Board of Directors: Do Connections Affect the Bottom Line?

2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 464-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy J. Hillman

Resource dependence theory emphasizes the importance of linking firms with external contingencies that create uncertainty and interdependence. A critical source of external interdependency and uncertainty for business is government. One way to link a firm to the government is appointing ex-politicians to the board of directors. This study compares the boards of two groups of firms—those from heavily and less regulated industries—and finds the former group has more politician directors. Firms with politicians on the board are associated with better market-based performance across both groups, although the relationship is more pronounced within heavily regulated industries.

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qun Wang ◽  
Yanran Yao

As the civil society and corporatism theories have been frequently challenged recently, alternative theories emerged to investigate the government-ngo relationship in China. Some new theories are largely related to resource dependence or share core ideas with it. This paper conducts a comprehensive review of the resource dependence theory. It identifies four groups of variables (organizational characteristics, board of directors, attitude and value, and external environment), finds support for their relevance from both Western and China scholarship, and applies them to the Chinese context. The resource dependence theory has the potential of empirically examining the relationship without over-focusing on the state or society. It is capable of explaining the dynamic and diverse relationships between the government and various ngos in China.


2011 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 1636-1663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charl de Villiers ◽  
Vic Naiker ◽  
Chris J. van Staden

This study investigates the relationship between strong firm environmental performance and board characteristics that capture boards’ monitoring and resource provision abilities during an era when the natural environment and the related strategic opportunities have increased in importance. The authors relate the proxy for strong environmental performance to board characteristics that represent boards’ monitoring role (i.e., independence, CEO-chair duality, concentration of directors appointed after the CEO, and director shareholding) and resource provision role (i.e., board size, directors on multiple boards, CEOs of other firms on the board, lawyers on the board, and director tenure). The authors provide evidence consistent with both theories of board roles. Specifically, consistent with their agency theory–driven predictions, the authors find evidence of higher environmental performance in firms with higher board independence and lower concentration of directors appointed after the CEO on the board of directors. Consistent with resource dependence theory, they show that environmental performance is higher in firms that have larger boards, larger representation of active CEOs on the board, and more legal experts on the board. Their findings are generally robust to a number of sensitivity analyses. These findings have implications for managers, firms, shareholders, and regulators who act on behalf of shareholders, if they are interested in influencing environmental performance.


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanqiong He ◽  
Zhilong Tian

This study proposes an initial and a revised model of government-oriented public relation (PR) strategies based on the results of two content analyses of website news regarding the PR activities of 76 firms in general and six well-known firms in China in more depth. With the perspective of resource dependence theory, this model reveals that firms in China employ six types of formal PR strategies, including visitation, philanthropy, participation, publicity, party involvement and political propaganda, to manage their dependence on government for resources. Further, the implementation of such strategies involves a four-step process: organizing PR activities with economic, social and political significance; obtaining the involvement and recognition of the government; building firms' resource, moral and cultural legitimacy in the government's eyes; and interacting with the government on the issues of firms' dependence to influence government policies relative to firms. We also explore the differences that exist among firms with different ownership structures in the use of these PR strategies, the level of government involved and the issues pursued.


Accounting ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 1655-1660
Author(s):  
Khaled Salmen Aljaaidi

This paper examines the impact of the government and its agencies’ ownership on the effectiveness of one the main internal governance mechanisms, namely; board of directors, for a sample of 140 energy and petrochemical Saudi listed firms over 2012-2019. The Saudi Arabia provides an interesting context due to the domination of government-linked corporations’ ownership. This setting arranges for the impact of such ownership on the board of directors’ monitoring and advisory roles. The board of directors’ effectiveness is measured as an interaction term of the board size and meetings of the board of directors. The study finds that government-linked energy and petrochemical corporations’ ownerships are inversely related to the board of directors’ effectiveness. This result is sensitive to the measurement of the board of directors’ effectiveness as each variable consisting of the board of directors’ effectiveness was examined individually. The study also finds that government-linked corporations’ ownership had a strong negative impact on the board size. In contrast, the proposed model does not provide any evidence supporting the relationship of the government-linked corporations’ ownerships with board meetings. Overall, the evidence supports the substitution hypothesis on the relationship of government-linked corporations and board of directors’ effectiveness.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-423
Author(s):  
Ying Xu ◽  
Evaon C. Wong-Kim

AbstractThis article combines the moral resources and political capital perspective with the theoretical arguments of guanxi and resource dependence theory to explore the strengths and weaknesses of both the Chinese government-organized and the grassroots environmental protection organizations (ENPOs). Qualitative methods were applied in this study, and the impact of these two entities on environmental protection was also analyzed. The findings mainly include: First, the ascribed political capital can ensure good guanxi with governmental departments, and thus improve an NPO’s opportunities to receive resources. Second, although the ascribed political capital enables government-organized ENPOs to run smoothly, their transparency and management need to be improved. Third, though grassroots ENPOs have little of political capital, they possess advantages in terms of the self-chosen moral resource, which can help them become relatively independent from the government and assume responsibility for monitoring the environment. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for policy highlighted by the findings.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-160
Author(s):  
Kegao Yan ◽  
Oulin Luo

In China, most university education foundations seek to increase fundraising capacity through the strategy of interlocking directorates, establishing a resource-sharing platform with alumni associations. Supported by resource-dependence theory and social network theory, based on data from a sample of 88 foundations, this study tests the effectiveness of the strategy of interlocking directorates. The result of the study shows that the secretary-general intensity has a significant negative influence on fundraising capacity, while the board-chairperson intensity and the interlocking range have no significant influence on fundraising capacity. Under the existing management system, university education foundations can get beyond the predicament of the ineffective strategy of interlocking directorates by further standardizing their systems and procedures for appointing directors, giving greater impetus to the transformation of individual capital into social capital, and promoting professional and specialized operations.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting Wang ◽  
Jianlin Wu ◽  
Jibao Gu ◽  
Lingyu Hu

Purpose Firms often encounter complicated external relationships and conflicts in inbound and outbound open innovation (OI). Conflict management significantly affects innovation results. Guided by resource dependence theory (RDT), this study aims to examine the moderating effects of conflict management styles in the relationship between OI and organizational performance (OP). Design/methodology/approach This study focuses on manufacturing and service firms in China, with the respondents composed of senior managers. Using hierarchical regression analysis, data from 270 firm samples are used to empirically test the hypotheses. Findings Inbound and outbound OI openness positively affects OP. Cooperative conflict management positively moderates the relationship between inbound OI openness and OP, whereas it negatively moderates the impact of outbound OI openness on OP. By contrast, competitive conflict management positively moderates the relationship between outbound OI openness on OP. Research limitations/implications Guided by RDT, this study explores the relationship between OI and OP and the moderating role of conflict management styles. However, it does not measure the level of resource dependence, which is among the future research directions for further validating the results of this study. Originality/value This study is among the first to investigate the impact of OI on OP in different conflict management styles. Findings suggest that choosing a suitable conflict management style may strengthen the positive effects of OI on OP.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jung-Ho Lai ◽  
Li-Yu Chen ◽  
I-Ju Chen

AbstractThis study investigates the effect of outside director experience on the performance of a firm's joint venture (JV) engagements, a type of strategic move where the influence of board remains under-investigated despite directors’ active participation in the decision-making process. By examining the direct linkage between director experience and strategic performance, our research presents the first direct evidence of the value outside director experience has for a firm's strategic engagements; this has previously been exclusively assessed by indirect indicators. We address this important issue in the following three ways. First, we explore what type of director experience contributes most to JV outcomes. Second, we investigate what circumstantial factors significantly influence the value of director experience. Lastly, we analyze whether incentive mechanisms moderate the relationship between director experience and firm performance. The results confirm the value of director experience gained from JV engagements but not from relevant industries. In addition, executive experience and the industry affiliation of the JV significantly moderate the value of director experience. Finally, experienced directors with large shareholdings outperform those with experience but limited stakes in the firms’ equity, justifying the necessity to motivate directors’ governance efforts despite their existing fiduciary obligation to shareholders. Our study contributes to agency theory by indicating that director experience holds a significant influence on a firm's strategic performance, an issue which has long been neglected in agency-based governance research. It also contributes to resource-dependence theory by providing a direct measurement of directors’ experiential assets, which have so far been exclusively assessed by indirect indicators. Finally, findings from this study can elucidate the long-standing question of how a firm can realize the purported benefits JVs provide by introducing a vital yet rarely explored factor: board experience.


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (02) ◽  
pp. 1650009 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHANSHAN QIAN ◽  
DALONG MA ◽  
CHAO MIAO

Under what circumstance do entrepreneurs decide to discover entrepreneurial opportunities to start new businesses? Informational economics suggests when entrepreneurs possess prior specific knowledge, they decide to discover opportunities. This paper contributes to informational economics perspective by taking resource dependence theory into consideration. Utilizing a conjoint experiment and a multilevel analysis of 66 student entrepreneurs, we found that students’ prior specific knowledge significantly influences students’ decision to discover opportunities. Further, we found that power imbalance moderates the relationship between prior specific knowledge and students’ decisions to discover opportunities. Our paper has theoretical implications and practical implications for entrepreneurs, educators and policy makers.


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