IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jomstd/v46y2009i1p16-44.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Capital and Social Influence on the Board of Directors

Author

Listed:
  • William B. Stevenson
  • Robert F. Radin

Abstract

It is often assumed that directors with human capital such as prior management experience or independence from the company are the most influential board members. By contrast, in a survey of all the board members in 14 companies we found that ties to others in a network of strong ties among those who meet outside of board meetings were more important predictors of social influence than human capital or ties across boards. These ties within the board represent the social capital of members in the form of prior relationships with other directors, ties to others on the board, and membership in cliques within the board's network of ties. These results support a social capital perspective on influence that emphasizes relationships with others on the board as important factors in the social dynamics of board decision‐making.

Suggested Citation

  • William B. Stevenson & Robert F. Radin, 2009. "Social Capital and Social Influence on the Board of Directors," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 16-44, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:46:y:2009:i:1:p:16-44
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2008.00800.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2008.00800.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2008.00800.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lee D. Parker, 2007. "Boardroom Strategizing in Professional Associations: Processual and Institutional Perspectives," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(8), pages 1454-1480, December.
    2. Fried, Vance H. & Bruton, Garry D. & Hisrich, Robert D., 1998. "Strategy and the board of directors in venture capital-backed firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 493-503, November.
    3. M. J. Nowak & M. McCabe, 2003. "Information Costs and the Role of the Independent Corporate Director," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(4), pages 300-307, October.
    4. Philip Stiles, 2001. "The Impact of the Board on Strategy: An Empirical Examination," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 627-650, July.
    5. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    6. Violina P. Rindova, 1999. "What Corporate Boards have to do with Strategy: A Cognitive Perspective," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7), pages 953-975, December.
    7. repec:bla:jomstd:v:37:y:2000:i::p:321-348 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Gavin J. Nicholson & Geoffrey C. Kiel, 2004. "A Framework for Diagnosing Board Effectiveness," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(4), pages 442-460, October.
    9. Gary J. Young & Yvonne Stedham & Rafik I. Beekun, 2000. "Boards of Directors and the Adoption of a CEO Performance Evaluation Process: Agency — and Institutional — Theory Perspectives," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 277-296, March.
    10. Denis, Diane K. & McConnell, John J., 2003. "International Corporate Governance," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 1-36, March.
    11. Annie Pye, 2002. "Corporate Directing: governing, strategising and leading in action," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(3), pages 153-162, July.
    12. Gary S. Becker, 1975. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education, Second Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck75-1.
    13. Wei‐ping Wu, 2008. "Dimensions of Social Capital and Firm Competitiveness Improvement: The Mediating Role of Information Sharing," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 122-146, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pugliese, A. & Bezemer, P.J. & Zattoni, A. & Huse, M. & van den Bosch, F.A.J. & Volberda, H.W., 2009. "Boards of Directors’ Contribution to Strategy: A Literature Review and Research Agenda," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2009-013-STR, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    2. Niamh Brennan, 2010. "A review of corporate governance research : an Irish perspective," Open Access publications 10197/2962, Research Repository, University College Dublin.
    3. William Stevenson & Robert Radin, 2015. "The minds of the board of directors: the effects of formal position and informal networks among board members on influence and decision making," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(2), pages 421-460, May.
    4. Åberg, Carl & Bankewitz, Max & Knockaert, Mirjam, 2019. "Service tasks of board of directors: A literature review and research agenda in an era of new governance practices," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 648-663.
    5. Conan Hom & Danny Samson & Christina Cregan & Peter Cebon, 2022. "Director independence: Going beyond misaligned incentives to resource dependence," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 47(1), pages 53-78, February.
    6. Niamh Brennan & Collette E. Kirwan & John Redmond, 2016. "Accountability Processes in Boardrooms: A Conceptual Model of Manager-Non-Executive Director Information Asymmetry," Open Access publications 10197/7652, Research Repository, University College Dublin.
    7. Kallifatides, Markus & Petrelius Karlberg, Pernilla, 2012. "What makes for a value-creating corporate board? A literature synthesis and suggestions for research," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Business Administration 2012:1, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 25 Jun 2013.
    8. Nguyen, Thi Tuyet Mai, 2017. "An examination of independent directors in Vietnam," OSF Preprints ay6dv, Center for Open Science.
    9. Jacqueline Christensen & Pamela Kent & Jenny Stewart, 2010. "Corporate Governance and Company Performance in Australia," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 20(4), pages 372-386, December.
    10. Verica Babić & Jelena Nikolić & Jelena Erić, 2011. "Rethinking Board Roles Performance: Towards Integrative Model," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 56(190), pages 140-162, July – Se.
    11. Amy J. Hillman & Gavin Nicholson & Christine Shropshire, 2008. "Directors' Multiple Identities, Identification, and Board Monitoring and Resource Provision," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 441-456, June.
    12. Ferkins, Lesley & Shilbury, David, 2015. "Board strategic balance: An emerging sport governance theory," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 489-500.
    13. Li, Yong & Aguilera, Ruth V., 2008. "Target Director Turnover in Acquisitions: A Conceptual Framework," Working Papers 08-0106, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    14. Wirtz, Peter, 2011. "The cognitive dimension of corporate governance in fast growing entrepreneurial firms," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 431-447.
    15. Niamh Brennan, 2006. "Boards of Directors and Firm Performance: is there an expectations gap?," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(6), pages 577-593, November.
    16. Uribe-Bohorquez, María-Victoria & Martínez-Ferrero, Jennifer & García-Sánchez, Isabel-María, 2018. "Board independence and firm performance: The moderating effect of institutional context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 28-43.
    17. Phillip C. James, 2020. "Understanding the Impact of Board Structure on Firm Performance: AComprehensive Literature Review," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, January.
    18. Yong Li & Ruth V. Aguilera, 2008. "Target Director Turnover in Acquisitions: A Conceptual Framework," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(6), pages 492-503, November.
    19. Concannon, Margaret & Nordberg, Donald, 2018. "Boards strategizing in liminal spaces: Process and practice, formal and informal," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 71-82.
    20. Phillip C. James, 2020. "Understanding the Impact of Board Structure on Firm Performance: AComprehensive Literature Review," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:46:y:2009:i:1:p:16-44. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-2380 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.