In this article, the authors develop and test a theoretical model of the effects of outside directors' human and social capital on firm growth. They posit that outside directors' board memberships and managerial experiences have additive and interactive effects. Using a longitudinal sample of high technology firms, they test their theory and find that outside directors' membership on multiple b…
This study makes a contribution to the growing literature on the board's resource provision role by examining a specific type of resource provision (i.e., industry experience supplementing) and demonstrating the criticality of the liabilities of newness to this particular role. In this study, we find that among younger entrepreneurial firms, a dearth of top management industry experience is off…
The resources that individual directors bring to corporate boards are largely a function of their human and social capital. Although research has explored the value of having former federal government officials join boards, we study factors that make one particular former government official more, or less, attractive as a director than another. Specifically, we explore the depth, breadth, and d…
It's no exaggeration to say that the governance of companies has moved from the inner sanctum of the boardroom to the white-hot spotlight of public discourse. More is demanded these days from independent directors: They're expected to ensure their firms' compliance with an ever-evolving set of regulations, head off executive wrongdoing at the pass, and appease shareholders' and Wall Street's ne…
This article examines how the compensation paid for outside directors affects firms' acquisition behavior. Using panel data of Standard & Poor's 1500 firms between 1996 and 2002, the authors find that stock and stock option pay for outside directors are related in an inverted U-shaped manner to a firm's acquisition rate and that for stock options, this relationship is moderated by board composi…