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Can Directors Impact Performance? A case‐based test of three theories of corporate governance
Author(s) -
Nicholson Gavin J.,
Kiel Geoffrey C.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
corporate governance: an international review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.866
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1467-8683
pISSN - 0964-8410
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8683.2007.00590.x
Subject(s) - stewardship theory , corporate governance , resource dependence theory , principal–agent problem , matching (statistics) , stewardship (theology) , accounting , test (biology) , agency (philosophy) , institutional theory , resource (disambiguation) , business , value (mathematics) , positive economics , economics , management , sociology , political science , computer science , mathematics , statistics , social science , computer network , politics , law , paleontology , biology
We examine hypothesised links between the board of directors and firm performance as predicted by the three predominant theories in corporate governance research, namely agency theory, stewardship theory and resource dependence theory. By employing a pattern matching analysis of seven cases, we are able to examine the hypothesised link between board demography and firm performance expected under each theory. We find that while each theory can explain a particular case, no single theory explains the general pattern of results. We conclude by endorsing recent calls for a more process‐orientated approach to both theory and empirical analysis if we are to understand how boards add value.