Albert A. Cannella

The Resource Dependence Role of Corporate Directors: Strategic Adaptation of Board Composition in Response to Environmental Change

Most research on corporate directors has focused on two roles: agency and resource dependence. While these two roles are theoretically and practically distinct, previous research has used the same classification scheme for measuring board composition regardless of role examined. Our paper examines the resource dependence role of directors and posits that the widely used insider/outsider categorizations do not adequately capture this role of directors. A taxonomy of directors is presented specifically for studying the resource dependence role. We then apply the taxonomy to a sample of US airline firms undergoing deregulation, and examine how board composition changes parallel the changing resource dependence needs of the firms. We conclude that the board’s function as a link to the external environment is an important one, and that firms respond to significant changes in their external environment by altering board composition.

SOCIAL CAPITAL AND KNOWLEDGE CREATION: DIMINISHING RETURNS OF THE NUMBER AND STRENGTH OF EXCHANGE RELATIONSHIPS

This study analyzed the relationship between social capital and knowledge creation at the individual level. Our limited theory of knowledge creation encompasses the number and strength of the relationships that a person maintains. Hypothesis tests in a sample of biomedical research scientists strongly supported predictions. As relationships increased in number, returns to knowledge creation diminished. Increased interactions with a single other showed a similar effect. The strength of interpersonal relations had a higher marginal effect on knowledge creation than the number of relations.

Relative Standing: A Framework for Understanding Departures of Acquired Executives

Prior attempts to explain the departure rates of the executives of acquired firms, primarily through strategic and economic logics, have yielded limited results. This study drew on the concept of r...

Executive Compensation: A Multidisciplinary Review of Recent Developments:

The failure to document a consistent and robust relationship between executive pay and firm performance has frustrated scholars and practitioners for over three quarters of a century. Although recent compensation research has revealed alternative theoretical frameworks and findings that hold the potential to significantly improve our understanding of executive compensation, to date this diverse literature lacks theoretical integration. Accordingly, we develop a framework to organize and review these recent findings. We further identify methodological issues and concerns, discuss the implications of these concerns, and provide recommendations for future research aimed at developing a more integrated research agenda.

Succession as A Sociopolitical Process: Internal Impediments to Outsider Selection

Although traditional adaptive theory implies that poor organizational performance will directly increase the likelihood that an outsider will be selected to succeed a firms chief executive, we dev...

Women and Racial Minorities in the Boardroom: How Do Directors Differ?

In this paper, we examine how the attributes of female and racial minority directors differ from those of white males. We track a sample of white male, white female, African-American female and African-American male directors who serve on Fortune 1000 boards and find differences in occupational background, education, and patterns of board affiliation. Female and African-American directors are more likely to come from non-business backgrounds, are more likely to hold advanced degrees, and join multiple boards at a faster rate than white male directors.

Contrasting Perspectives on Strategic Leaders: Toward a More Realistic View of Top Managers

Previous empirical studies of top managers tend to draw from either positive agency theory or strategic leadership theory. This manuscript reviews and critiques these two approaches, outlining their advantages and inherent limitations. Because each is inherently limited, we suggest that developments in personality theory, transformational leadership theory, and visionary leadership theory can contribute to a more realistic view of top managers. Consequently, we contrast these three alternative perspectives with the two more dominant approaches in this manuscript. As a result, we identify future research directions for scholars interested in studying strategic leadership.

Power Dynamics Within Top Management and Their Impacts on CEO Dismissal Followed by Inside Succession

Following a power perspective, this study is a longitudinal examination of the antecedents of CEO dismissal followed by inside succession. Our theory highlights interest conflicts and competition w...

Value of Strong Ties to Disconnected Others: Examining Knowledge Creation in Biomedicine

Knowledge creation requires the combination and exchange of diverse and overlapping knowledge inputs as individuals interact with exchange partners to create new knowledge. In this study, we examine knowledge creation among university research scientists as a function of their professional (ego) networks---those others with whom they collaborate for the purpose of creating new knowledge. We propose that knowledge creation relies, in part, on two attributes of a researchers professional network structure---average tie strength and ego network density---and we provide insights into how these attributes jointly affect knowledge creation. Our study of over 7,300 scientific publications by 177 research scientists working with more than 14,000 others over an 11-year period provides evidence that the relationship between a research scientists professional network and knowledge creation depends on both ego network density and average tie strength. Our evidence suggests that both attributes affect knowledge creation. Moreover, average tie strength interacts with density to affect knowledge creation such that researchers who maintain mostly strong ties with research collaborators who themselves comprise a sparse network have the highest levels of new knowledge creation.

Initial public offering investor valuations: An examination of top management team prestige and environmental uncertainty

Relying on one of the more notable entrepreneurial settings, an initial public offering (IPO), this article extends prior work on top management team (TMT) characteristics. We examine whether or not prestigious TMTs at the time of an IPO enhance organizational legitimacy and thereby provide a signal to potential investors. Because an IPO represents an entrepreneurial context characterized by high levels of uncertainty, we also consider the impact of environmental uncertainty on the TMT prestige/investor valuation relationship. We find that both an element of TMT prestige and environmental uncertainty influence investor valuations. However, we also find that the influence of prestige does not assuage investors when analyzing IPOs in different environmental conditions.